If we were there
by AnonymousSpeed
Summary: Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be in a video game? Well, Rukka certainly didn't, but as the irony of life would have it, he becomes wrapped up in a not really epic quest among our favorite, 'colorful' heroes in the world of Kid Icarus. All of them.
1. Chapter 1- Just to try and make sense

**Disclaimer- I own nothing but the cloths on my back blah blah blah.**

Let's begin with this story in all its glory with the beginning. We begin in the future, present or past year of 2018, depending on when you're reading this, in a small Japanese city about 140 miles south west of Kanazawa, Japan in the Chubu region. So, why don't we begin to delve into a long plot of- well, you'll find out.

Rukka was enjoying a stroll through Nakido Park, as he usually did in the mornings. It was his was of relaxing before work or just relaxing in general, since calmness was not exactly his strong point. As such, he felt very inclined to come to the calming atmosphere of the park each day. He strolled along the smooth stone path, taking in the autumn scenery. The maple trees were scattered across the rolling hills, most of there leaves a golden red, not unlike fine bourbon. Not that Rukka drank, but alcohol had its uses in cooking, and that was a strong point of his.

He looked around, taking in the thickly clouded morning sky, letting the breeze blow around him. A normal person would have shuttered in the cold breeze wearing Rukka's attire, but he was used to cold, always had been. The phrase 'Always had been' had a unique way with Rukka. His name had not always been Rukka, and he had not always lived in Chubu. No in fact, he was born an American under the name Leon. But five years ago his family decided to move to a different country, and Japan won by popular vote. He had changed his name to fit his knew home land, and now here he was, a young man trying to push off in life.

"Hmmm, it's good for me to do this," Rukka signed, walking around. He had a tendency to still talk in English when not in conversation. "I never feel as relaxed as I do here." He walked along the path, dotting his eyes around as he usually did. Looking around, he expecting nothing, but was met with an odd surprise. As he took a glance at an old peach tree, his eyes were caught by a small glint.

"Huh?" The puzzled Rukka asked himself as he walked up to the tree. As an overly cautious person, he took his steps slowly, generating as little noise with each step as he could. The gentle breeze rustled the sparse leaves of the old tree, making a sound which only made Rukka all the more cautious. It was miracle the age of the tree, since it was older than the then 19 years of age Rukka, and most peach trees only live for twelve years. But I digress.

Rukka came right up to the base of the tree and looked up the trunk, trying to find the glint. After a moment of wandering around with eyes, he came to what he was looking for. It was a small object hanging on the tallest branch of the tree, about twenty feet up (it was a very odd peach tree). "Well, when did that get there?" Rukka asked himself, now in Japanese. Letting his curiosity take over, Rukka leaned over to the side and picked up a rock, his eyes still glued to the object. He threw the rock strongly, knocking the branch and dislodging the small object and causing it to fall to the ground.

"Now, lets see just what you are," Rukka said, walking over to the glinting thing. He kneeled down and picked it up, but it was merely a seed. It seemed no different than any other peach pit, but Rukka was strangely attracted to it. Before he could make any more observations, his watch gave off a ring, indicating it was time to head for work. Pocketing the seed, he began his walk to his place of employment, an expensive tempura restaurant.

Rukka arrived at the rail station which he used to get to work every day. The interior was cool, not nearly as cold as outside. There were two tracks, side by side, and a large platform were passengers would await their train and vendors would try to take their money. All the passengers and vendors talking left a horrid mess of sound in Rukka's ears, him barely managing to tune them out as he continuously turned the seed over in his hand.

"Hello Rukka," A voice called, in English.

"Morning Ikki," Rukka replied back in Japanese. Ikki had been Rukka's best friend since his first year of high school, which had also been his first year of Japanese education. The two of them had almost a brother bond, since Rukka never had a brother, and he and Ikki were very trusting of one another, sometimes to the point burdening the other.

"Now stop with the English." Some thing which bothered Rukka was that Ikki would always speak to him in English unless someone else was involved in the conversation. It wasn't that Ikki's English was bad or that his voice sounded weird in English, no, that stuff was fine. It was the fact it that Ikki's English was like that of Captain Kurt, pauses, hand motions to remember words, rapid chains and all. It was entertaining at first, but quickly got on Rukka's nerves.

"No," His friend answered cheerfully, sitting in the seat beside him, just as the train arrived.

Rukka let out a sigh. "Come on, let's get to work." Both of them worked at the same restaurant. It had actually been a favor on Rukka's part. He had graduated from High school about two months before the rest of his class, as he was a very bright and well educated person. To save for college he had begun to work at the tempura restaurant and had suggested to Ikki that he also work there, and he had gladly taken up the idea. So after a bit of convincing his boss, Rukka landed Ikki a job and they had both worked there ever since.

The two each sat on the same bench in the train. It was compact; the benches were small and white plastic, as was most of the train's interior, with thin blue cushion on the seat and back board. "So, Rukka," Ikki asked, breaking a brief silence between the two as Rukka continued to examine the seed, "what's that?"

"Oh, just something I picked up." Rukka had not noticed he answering in English, since he was to busy focusing on the seed. It was a normal, wrinkled peach pit, nothing special as I said earlier, but Rukka couldn't stop feeling it was hiding something more.

"Hm, you were never one to pick up garbage," Ikki said.

"Shut up and annoy me in some other manner." Rukka said in his characteristic impatient tone, before immediately realizing what he said, his eyes opening wide. "No wai-"

"Alright then, you know what would be awesome?" Ikki said in a cheerful tone, obviously enjoying taking advantage of Rukka's rash tongue and quick temper.

"Guh," He answered with a sigh, taking a break from his seed studies to close his eyes, "what?"

"If I could live in the Kid Icarus world."

"What?" Rukka questioned in slight shock, having resumed his observation of the seed. He slowly turned it in is his palm, trying to discover what was so strange about it.

"If I could live in the world of Kid Icarus characters, I mean, that game was awesome. There are so many hilarious characters and potential pairings and-"

"Other crap I don't care for?" Rukka finished. Despite his rhetorical attitude, the thought of the game was a good source of nostalgia for him. He remembered spending a good bit of time playing the game, even a couple of multiplayer matches with Ikki and some of his other friends. But that was high school, and know he had more pressing matter to work towards, most noticeably saving for college. That aside, he was still focused on the pit.

"Well, yeah, but what do you care about in the first place?" Ikki replied

"You'd be surprised," he mumbled.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing," He sighed. Truth be told, he was something of a hapless romantic (if that term hasn't been used a billion and one times) for a girl he and Ikki worked with. Ever since she had come to work at the same place as Rukka he had felt a strong attraction to the young woman, whose name was Suzuki. She and Ikki were the only real friends he currently had, and they were loyal companions. But Rukka had always felt that he was, missing out sort of, since the two seemed to be staying just friends. _Guh,_ _man,_ he thought,_ I really should ask her out. I mean, she's really nice and really pretty and- uh, you know maybe today I'll-_

"Either way wouldn't it be awesome?" Ikki interrupted his thoughts.

"Sure, fine, whatever," Rukka answered in mild frustration.

"Oh come on you have to wish to be there just a little," Ikki replied in _that_ tone. You know, the one in just about every story that is supposed to be inquisitive yet demanding yet sarcastic, the one that's supposed to be persuasive but no one has bothered to make a word for it. Yeah, _that_ tone of voice.

"If it will get you to shut up, sure," Rukka agreed sarcastically. It was barely a moment before the futuristic feeling train zoomed through a tunnel, causing the car to temporality become pitch black inside. This was not really odd, it happened every commute on the train to their place of employment, but when they came out the tunnel and the car lit up again, Rukka was no longer seated next to Ikki. He paid this no mind, since he (as you've probably picked up) easily annoyed the quick tempered Rukka who capable of moving with impressive agility at a high rate. It would be a while, about a week, for anyone to notice his absence.

...

Rukka woke up prone on a small stone platform, with his head throbbing and a vibrant hand guard on top of a note near him.


	2. Chapter 2- Now for the actual KI part

*snore*

*snore*

A lone, short little centurion was snoring while lying back in a black leather chair, not unlike the ones found in barber shops. A magazine was strewn open across his face, rustling up in down as he in- and ex-haled. The room he was in had an unnatural mechanical feel, being merely that chair in a grey room. In fact, there were only 3 things that weren't flat grey surfaces. One was the chair, on was the door behind the chair, and the other was the top portion of the wall in front of the chair. It's almost exactly like those status observation boards you see in the villain's layer of a lot of movies, only the bar like counter was absent and the room was brightly lit, revealing its disgusting light grey pallet.

The many instruments that dotted the front wall seemed to be a compilation of just about everything. Levers, radar screens, heart rate monitors, a digital seismograph, a Doppler radar that seemed to be showing 1930's telescope style images, stars, monochrome and all, as well as switches reminiscent of air plane controls, all the random crap one would expect a Bond villain high off crack to glue together. And for a bit all that happened was that lazy ass centurion sleeping with a magazine over his face. But all was not quiet for long...

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

The alarm sounded as a bright red light wandered over the room, startling the centurion to a conscious state. He quickly glanced around the room, taking in the various contraptions going nuts. Some how he was able to find a message in the chaos of images and light, quickly flying out of the room with little more than the clothes on his back and the body that wore them. The grass of Skyworld was bright emerald green and a grey gravel path connected most places to the centurion's destination, Palutena's temple.

…

Pit was seated in a wooden chair with a small wooden table in front of him. He was leaning on his elbows, with his cheek rested against his left fist. He was starring intensely, first at Palutena, who sat opposite him in an identical chair. Then his eyes drifted down, still sharp and intense, to the tables; more specifically, the board on the table, which was a checkers board. He was playing black with five pieces left, no kings. His gaze shifted back to Palutena, whom was playing white with nine pieces remaining, three kings, and all in all clearly being in the lead. Pit finally returned his eyes to the checker board, deep in thought. "Your move," he said as he slid a piece forward. Palutena starred at the board a moment before acting.

"Sorry," She shrugged, taking a normal piece and skipping over three of Pit's pieces, finally landing it on the opposite row, "king me."

"Dang it!" Pit yelled, throwing his fist on the table, shaking the board a bit. "Why is it that I can never beat you at checkers?"

"Because," Palutena answered merrily in a typical eyes closed, slight smile look. "I'm smarter than you."

"Geez," Pit said, taken aback by the bluntness of the comment, "that was kinda mean… somehow."

"Yes it is Pit," Palutena replied, not breaking her tone or expression.

The two sat in the quiet a bit. Palutena sat straight, although her most likely uncomfortable facial expression remained unchanged. Pit was leaning back in his chair, he arms crossed and his eyes outwards. He looked a bit around the mostly empty temple. The floors were glossy obsidian and the many columns that supported the temple were littered around like an evenly spaced forest. The only illumination came from a large, lightly elevated marble pedestal at the back end. Far at the entrance was a large cedar dual door rimmed with gold, although the temples weak lighting made said rimming very, not apparent. There remained piece for a moment, nothing of interest really happening for a short bit.

"LADY PALUTENA!" The doors slammed open, letting in bright, continuous burst of light in, causing the two in the room to recoil and cover their eyes with their forearms. "How long have we been playing checkers?" Pit asked with his squinted eyes turned towards the green-haired goddess. "About four days," She replied.

"Oh," Pit began,"that explains why this light is so bright," His eyes suddenly went wide and he put his arm down while he turned to face Palutena "and did you say four days?"

"Yes Pit I did," She answered, similarly relaxing her arms.

"Woo!" They were interrupted by the centurion who had flown at max speed to cross the expansive structure and reach their table. He wiped a bead of sweat of his head and took several deep gasps before he began. "I was… just at…" his voice was full of long breathing breaks, "time space thingy,"

"We have a time space thingy?" Pit asked Palutena in bewilderment.

"Well… yeah," She answered.

"But why?" he replied.

"We had a lot of spare space, so we figured," Palutena began, having brought up her shoulders, "why not monitor the very fabric of space and time itself."

"Because," Pit started to answer, "It seems pretty random."

"Well, your opinion is insignificant," Palutena replied once again in a cheery tone with her eyes once again closed, her long neck and narrow shoulders once again relaxed, her small lips once again in an almost unnoticeable smile.

"Why you gotta hate on the halo holder?" Pit asked in his lightly displeased voice, referring to his head, though he wasn't pointing or physically indicating to it in any way.

"Because-"Palutena began to reply, raising her voice slightly in annoyance at Pit's constant questioning, but was cut off by a timid voice.

"Uh, the time space thingy?" The centurion inquired.

"Oh, well, what seems to be the issue?" Palutena asked, quickly calmed by the sound of a different voice.

"Well, there was this, weird, thing…"

"Define 'weird'," Pit brought himself into the conversation again, drawing a very soft sigh from Palutena that, thankfully for her, went unnoticed.

"Well," The centurion began, "The fabric sorta, ripped."

"YOU MEAN A BLACK HOLE HAS FORMED!?" Palutena jumped up and yelled. Her eyes gleamed with great worry, drawing an odd glance from Pit, whom was used to her always being in a calm, composed mood.

"Well, no," the centurion began, adjusting his sweaty leather armor. "It's too small, and it's not destroying anything, but…"

"BUT WHAT!?" Palutena continued yelling.

"It seems to have, filled itself in. Kind of."

"Okay, I'm confused, what do self-patching clothes, aside from sounding very convenient, have to do with this hedge-maze picture?" Pit piped in, shaking his head and hands to indicate his obvious confusion.

"Nothing, were talking about a tear in the space-time continuum." Palutena answered.

"The what?" Pit kept fueling the flames of conversion.

"The space time continuum, it's what contains all of, being, to simplify things." The annoyed goddess replied, her tone slightly harsher and her eyes leaking out the emotion that this bombardment of questions aroused, minor frustration.

"And it seems to have filled itself in, with another one." The centurion spoke

"Another one?" Pit and Palutena said, Pit with regret and Palutena with shock. _As if one mime-shade viridian wasn't confusing enough_, Pits mind wondered, while Palutena's mind raced with a different thought. _Another time space continuum has filled a hole in ours! What is this all about?_

"HOW CAN THERE BE TWO TIME SPACE CONTINUUMS!" Palutena, whom was about six feet tall, bent far over yelled down at the centurion, who stood at two feet and floated another two and a half above the ground.

"There just are!" He shouted back, tucking himself away within his own abdomen, "just don't eat me!"

"Not yet," Palutena said with a devilish smile, causing the centurions eyes to turn white and his face to drain of color. The green haired woman straightened herself, not breaking her maniacal stare. "Were is it?" She asked, leaning just a tad forward to create much of an uncomfortable atmosphere as possible. She enjoyed watching the centurion bug out at her threats and the silence it spurred in Pit.

"Uh, um," the short floating soldier scratched the back of his neck and averted his eyes. "Funny you should mention tha-'

"You didn't check did you?" She said with a tinge of annoyance, but mostly with neutrality. One wouldn't at first glance guess Palutena would be good at staring people down, given her girlish complexion, pine colored hair and round, bright green eyes, put she certainly was displaying other wise now.

"No," he reply was quick and fearful. His arms were glued to his sides and his eyelids were unable to close, for he though that if for a second he closed them he would open them to find himself dead or being made dead.

"THEN GO DO SO!" Palutena yelled, her face like anime character when they are really angry and scream so that half of their face is taken up by there mouth while there teeth suddenly become dagger like.

"Yes ma'am!" the centurion screamed as he float-dashed out of the room to go check the location of the strange phenomenon.

"Lady Palutena?" Pit asked sotto voce after a moment of silence. He had remained silent and fearful for the later part of the conversation, worried what Palutena might do to him, who could survive his stomach being cut open for a good period of time.

"Yes Pit," Palutena replied calmly, looking around and down at him with her normal eyes, which were soft and friendly, not intimidating at all. Whatever frustration in her she seemed to have released upon the one centurion.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He asked timidly, twiddling his thumbs.

"Sure, I need you to go check out the space rift." She said, back to her cheery ways.

"Really?" Pit sat up straight in excitement from his slumped position as he ushered his comment.

"Of course," He said, waving her hand, "I would never trust such a life threatening situation to a mere army of centurions."

"Gee, thanks," Pit said in a quiet, nervous tone, "I guess,"

"What?" Palutena inquired.

"Oh, uh, I guess I'll go get a weapon!" Pit said with a large smile, pointing towards the exit before breaking for it, "bye!" He ran across the grassy fields of Skyworld's main island, letting the wind blow over his face as his legs got wet in the moist grass. You see, Skyworld was more or less a flying archipelago, and as such contained many islands. Pit dashed around, taking two bridges before reaching a small island. A box-shaped, banana-colored building with a glass sliding door was resting on it, barely leaving enough room for a small sand rectangle meant to be used for combat training, seeing as this island contained the armory of Skyworld.

Pit slid open the door and walked in, taking a gander around. All through out the room were unorganized piles of weapons, from palms to orbitals to arms to bows. Pit ruffled around, struggling to keep balance on the disjoined, crumbling hills of steel and wood, searching deep through the pile.

"Man, I should just convert most of the weapons to hearts and buy a Ferrari," Pit said with exasperation. "I don't need them and it would make it so much easier to find- there it is!" Pit exclaimed as he pulled out his personal favorite weapon. It was a golden bow with a five in melee, a five in range, as well as bonuses to poisoning, health, speed, melee resistance, shot homing and charge time. It had been hell to make, but it was all worth it when Pit got the satisfying feeling of mowing through an underworld force like a series of dominos, but with more violence.

Pit walked outside, taking in the bright blue sky and breathing the fresh, cool air, filled with the smell of irises. The gentle breezes of the noon rustled the leaves of the sparsely placed trees of Skyworld, making a calming sound as a prelude of sorts to Pit's quest out. He stood for second before Palutena began to talk to him in that odd way gods could do, were even though they're not there you can have a conversation, like device-free cell phones. Any how, she began. "Pit, I have the location of the time space rift! Hurry up and get ready to fly!"

"Yes ma'am!" he exclaimed as he jumped into a run-ready position. His bow was in his right hand, placed against his side. He used his free arm to straighten his belt and crown as he felt a smile grow on his face. If there was one thing Pit liked, it was flying. It might have been for the feeling of the wind blowing across he his face and over his toga to cool him and melt away his stresses, the lack of weight that made him feel so free, or the fact that it went really well with '_Ride of the Valkyries_,' but most likely because it was such a strangely forbidden fruit. Despite being the commander of Palutena's guards, the highest ranking of all angels, he was unable to fly on his own. Every other angel and even the feeble centurions were able to fly easily, but Pit needed power from a god, and even then it only lasted five minutes at a time, with a noticeable cool down time. But for whatever reason Pit liked flying, he did, and now was another opportunity, his five minutes of flight. He quickly ran to the edge of the small island, his wing beginning to glow a bright blue. He reached the end and jumped of with a perfectly straight form, falling down for a moment before he flew upwards, high above the islands, ready to begin his adventure along the route through the skies Palutena had so meticulously laid out for him. As far as Pit was concerned, every danger, every fireball to the chest, every sadistic maniac desiring to rule the world, was worth it for this.

_OH MY GOODNESS WHAT A RE-DO! This took me a while and is a lot longer, as well as a lot more descriptive than the original 688 word version. _

_Please, leave a review down below. All constructive criticism is appreciated, and it's nice to know people care enough to share their opinions._

_Hope you enjoy and good night, or morning, or day, depending on the time your reading this._


	3. Chapter 3- The Rukka interpritation

_A chapter 3 redo! Yay! I am seriously messing up my own continuity! Sort of!_

_I know it might be hard to have to reread everything based on an altered cannon but, think of the future generation of reader! So, without further ado from me, this chapter… REDONE!_

"Uhh.." Rukka moaned sotto voice, waking up to find himself on a dark granite platform. He used one arm to push himself up from his prone position and clutched his throbbing scalp with his free hand. "Why does my head hurt?" he muttered aloud in a low, grumbled, almost inaudible voice, not asking anyone nor expecting a response. He put forth one leg and stood in a kneeling position, one hand still on the cold ground and the other still gripping his head, only now the front of it instead of his scalp. He had his eyes held shut and took a quick, deep breath before he stood up. He took another, longer breath and opened his eyes, still holding onto his skull.

"What the-?" Rukka let out slowly, lowering his hand at an equally molasses-ish rate. His jaw fell slightly open as he soaked in the massive scenery before him. All that was in view was nothing but pink clouds flooding the sky without break or end. There wasn't a mountain or anything as far as he could see. His eyes moved around slowly with his body, eventually landing on the ground and telling him something that sent a minor shockwave through him.

He was standing on a stone dodecagon, which in itself was not odd; NakidoPark had at least 30 of such platforms, but the platform was just about on level with the clouds, which were so thick that Rukka could not see through them any easier than the stone on which he stood. "Am I…?" he began in a totally shocked and awestruck voice, kneeling by the edge of the platform, "flying? Or floating?" He went on as he ran his hand through the clouds, which seemed to fill the entire sky until about three inched below the platform. Everything was flat and smooth.

Rukka lifted his hand in wonder to find that the clouds were thick enough for him to scoop up, and was in even more wonder how his hands stayed dry as he did such. He stared in amazement as the pink material fell through the breaks in his hand like sand when his squeezed it, being much like a solid with the properties of a liquid. "Wow," he more or less mouthed, he spoke so softly. He was completely enthralled by the new scenery he found himself in, dedicating his entire attention to the clouds around him. He once again scooped another bit of cloud and, letting a childish curiosity overcome, ate it.

"*hurp*, bleh!" Rukka started as he almost immediately spat out the puffy substance into the sky. "That's… *gag*… repulsive," he gagged, kneeling over the edge, supporting himself with one hand while clutching his chest with the other. "It's like, *hurp*, really, really bad cotton candy." Starting to feel a little woozy from the sheer disgusting taste of the cloud, Rukka half-walked half-crawled a little ways from the edge and rested down. For a second he remained with one knee with his head and one arm leaning up on it. Eventually he got over his stomach and stood up again to see, well, anything.

"You know, this is actually pretty freaky," Rukka stated, navigating the platform with his eyes until he quickly came across something that he was surprised he missed, not that it would have been very visible given his general lack of shock. It was a hand guard, deep violet in color and appearing well tailored to cover the front, top and sides of his hands as well as the upper part of his forearm. It possessed a brass-gold trim and three silver lines were equally spaced were ones knuckles would be. The appearance was actually rather impressive, shiny like polished stone yet rounded well like skin. But perhaps what caught his eye most was the contrast offered by a piece of rice paper lying next to him.

"Well, what have we here?" Rukka mumbled as he knelt by the purple object and picked it up. The violet section certainly felt like stone, but the piece of armor was surprisingly light, not more than two or three pounds. He set it down by him and picked up the slip of rice paper, hurriedly and clumsily unfolding it, even dropping it once. He really had no idea why he was rushing, though most likely he was subconsciously trying to keep himself from thinking about the weight of his situation.

_Hello_, the note began, _if you are not dead, and appear to be stuck on a floating piece of stone surrounded by clouds that taste like really bad cotton candy, welcome! You have wished yourself into a fictional universe using the power of the wish seed! Much more will be clear upon wearing the requested item, which will deem you worthy or not._ Rukka finished reading and looked at the note for a short bit. Deciding there were really no other options for him aside from doing what the note requested, he slipped the arm guard onto his right hand, but it felt very awkward and he could fit it on fully. He then tried again to fit it, only on his left arm. This fit perfectly and it was rather comfortable to grasp the bar inside the suit piece that held it on his grasp. The feel of it around his arm was rather fine as well and it surprisingly felt sort of like a warm sheet instead of cold stone as the outside did.

But almost as soon as Rukka closed his fingers around the grip he felt a strange sensation that made him cringe. It seemed as if light had taken on mass and had begun to fill his blood. A strange feeling, something like warmth yet with nothing to do with it came over him. A short blast of flashing colors filled the inside of his eyelids; only, they somehow felt more like words than colors. As if he could read them, if he had had the time to look for more than a second. It was not long after this that the sensation ended, leaving Rukka feeling a little light-headed.

"Guh…" Rukka sighed, pinching between his eyes as he slowly opened them. He slowly stood up, reclosing his eyes and taking long breath with his face skyward. _Alright, that was weird,_ he thought as he opened his eyes again. He was met with the glare of the sun and quickly turned his head to the ground as well as moved up his hand to stop some of the bright light. Rukka then clasped his eyes and let out a sigh. _Just some phosphene, like I used to get,_ he thought as he shook his head, disregarding the lights in his head as little more than that, lights in his head. As a young boy it had happened to him constantly, so it was no stretch that it was just that. _Just that and some altitude sickness,_ his mind finished, leaving the previous experience to rest.

The young man stood around for second, scanning the floor before coming across the note again. With very little to do, Rukka knelt over by the note and picked it up, deciding that re-reading the note or even simply looking at it would be a bit less boring than simply standing around.

_You are worthy. The soul is your book._

That is what the piece of paper read, leaving Rukka a bit bewildered. "Did-…did this note change?" He spoke, vision glued to the paper. He must have stood like that for at least an hour, as the sky was just beginning to turn gold when he looked up. He moved his eyes back to the paper, trying to rationalize it. _Just, how did it change? M-must be some special ink. I mean, they have invisible ink, like in National Treasure, yeah, like that. But what does it mean by 'I am worthy'? And the thing about souls? Probably just some unstable person. Yeah, that's it. Just, some unstable person trying to mess with me._

Rukka was now leaning back on one hand, shaking his head in an arm leaning on an upright knee. He lifted his head and looked around at his situation. The clouds, the masonry, the scope of it all. _One very eccentric messed up person_, he thought, not wanting to admit that he had little to no explanation for it all.

"No, no…" Rukka muttered softly. "There is always a logical explanation."

"NOTHING!" He shouted, quickly jumping from his pseudo-seated position into a full stand. "Has no expla- HOLE-E SHIT!" He shouted as recoiled from a sudden sight. From seemingly out of no were, a pink flying eye creature with many tentacles on it's back appeared in his peripheral vision. The creature seemed as if it had been starring and suddenly lunged forth towards the now low standing Rukka, who had put his arms in a cross in front of him, though he did not expect it to offer any defense. But then a large piercing sound, similar to some sort of flintlock, blasted through the sky, causing Rukka to lean over from behind his arms. He just barely glimpsed the floating takoyaki monster spiraling far off to his left, engulfed in a ball of light. Another shock hit him when the creature exploded in a large number of cartoon hearts. His awe-filled eyes followed them as the trailed through the sky and into, _An angel?_ Rukka thought, completely baffled. _What the f-_

* * *

Pit flew through the sky freely, looping and barrel rolling his way through hordes of foes, feeling great satisfaction with each quickly charged shot burning though multitudes of underworld foes. His eyes scoured the skies like a hawk, in search of anything that he may have to kill. As he observed around him, his senses as sharp as proper sword, he caught glimpse of something very strange. A small figure on a small 12-sided stone shape

"Lady Palutena!" The young angel said with a hurried tone, "I think there's a human over there!"

"What?" Palutena replied with a mild chuckle, obviously a bit amused by Pit's comment, "Come on Pit, be a little humbler!"

"What!?" Pit answered with a bit of shock, "I don't-" Pit cut himself off when he saw a Monoeye approach the small figure. "Oh no you don't!" he said cockily, sending a fresh charged shot right through the flying pink octopus. He was now flying a good bit lower, and now had a much better glimpse of the figure. It was a human alright, a young man more specifically. He looked about twenty years of age, maybe a little younger, and had thick dark brown hair that showed it's time in the wind. He was rather tall and wiry except for his broad shoulders, which were almost twice the width of his waist, though even then it wasn't that all that much. One thing that Pit found odd was the humans cherry red shirt and grey track pants, clothes he had never bared witness to before.

"Don't what?" Palutena piped up a bit smugly as the young hero climbed the sky. Even though Pit couldn't see her, he could tell she was leaning into her words, or at least would be in a face-to-face conversation. But given how much time Pit had to spend fighting, he didn't have many face-to-face conversations that didn't involve shooting.

"Ph, uh, sorry, wrong person," he replied with a nervous chuckle. "Their was a mooneye going after that human I saw and-"

"Pit, your senses are sharp, but stop tooting your own horn," Palutena said with a little bit of annoyance, not believing the youthful angel's story.

"What?" Pit asked with more surprise, looking in a random upwards direction away from the horde of Miks he shot through, decimating the entire ranks at once.

"Pit, there is no way you could see through those clouds and decipher a human form on the ground." Palutena answered with a little exasperation.

"But he's not below the clouds! He's right there on the rock!" Pit urgently yelled, pointing to the platform even though his goddess wouldn't be able to see it.

"Stop talking salami!" Palutena said with a growing impatience.

"… You know, I just realized that despite us being Greek, we don't eat anything Greek," Pit spoke thoughtfully, blasting yet more troops of enemies. "Sheesh, with Hades and Medusa dead, how can there be so many monsters?"

"Maybe there both back," Palutena joked. "That would be quite the over time, huh?"

"Please don't joke about overtime," Pit spat out with a quick, blank worried and maybe even slightly painful answer. "I still haven't gotten over my nightmares."

"Oh for my sake Pit, it was just some thorns," Palutena said in yet more exasperation.

"Well you weren't the one they were trying to eat!" Pit shouted back in angst. He shuttered a bit, remembering the painful memory. In exchange for all the damage of the war against Hades, he had been made to help clean up most of the messes. For Viridi, this meant clearing killer mutant plants out of all the building he had shut down during his escapades, and many times he was almost killed by the ravenous creatures in the unlit darkness of the structures. "B-but that's not the point, we need to help the human on the stone!" He yelled out, firing though a wall of foes and then spinning around to take out another monoeye approaching the human from behind. He fired at it, but only gave it partial attention and the result was sloppy, out of place aim.

"Stone? In the middle of the sky?" The green-haired woman replied in a demeaning manor.

"Y-yes! I'm not lying!" Pit shouted as he stopped in the air and looked up, before spiraling around and pointing at the rock platform amidst the clouds. 'He's right-" Suddenly, the childish face went sullen. "There," he said with worry and bewilderment, his finger drooping. "Huh, he must have… OH PANTHEON ABOVE!" He shouted, diving straight into the clouds.

Rukka stood and watched with an awe-filled look on his face. "Is, is that an angel? Flying across the sky? Shooting laser beams?" he asked rhetorically, his voice in total shock and wonder, as he saw legions of strange creatures being decimated by the speck in the sky. _Strange,_ Rukka though, eyes still glued to the display, _these creatures are oddly familiar somehow…_

The winged figure eventually came much lower and closer to Rukka, which caught him of guard, causing him to stumble a little. It was only there for a few seconds as it curved around the stone and began to head back into the higher part of the sky. "What the hell?" Rukka let out slowly and softly. He continued to stare at the foreign being, observing it send a strange beam through many odd flying creatures, causing them to explode into hearts mush like the floating Cyclops that had been blasted earlier. "Sheesh, this thing is utterly destroying these… other things," Rukka continued, attention absorbed as the flying humanoid shot through another wall of monsters. But just then it turned around and fired a blast at him!

Rukka gasped at threw his arms in front of him, but then an unexpected snapping sound, just like the flintlock sound from earlier, rang behind him. He twirled around and recoiled, watching and explosion of very light blue light. This caused him to stumble again and lose his balance.

"Gwa! W-wh-" Rukka slurred and he spun around his arms in a futile attempt to regain balance. "Guh- AAAH!' He shouted as fell back-first into the sky. The thick clouds gave way to his mass and a hole in the shape of his flailing form was ripped into them, although it did not feel like much to fall through the dry fluff, a little itchy if anything, though it was easily overshadowed by the wind that brushed against him as he fell.

"Well," Rukka began sotto voice, as if he was out of breathe. He looked up, his heart like a drum, and saw a stone cylinder pointing out from above the clouds. "at least I know I was floating." He inhaled deeply and closed his eyes, letting the emotion of despair wash over him. His hands rested together over his stomach, accurately displaying his sadness and thought. He rolled over and spread his arms as he did such, opening his eyes to see the ground drawing itself before him.

"I wonder what everyone will think with me dead and them not knowing it, or even were I am." He rambled, as the ground, which was at least half a mile down, likely much more, resembled no place he had ever been. "I wonder if anyone will miss me. Heh, my friends probably will. After all, Ikki, Suzuki and I are the only friends each of us has. Huh…" he sighed. "I bet my boss will miss me, I'm the only one he can afford that can cook," Rukka chuckled, averting his mind from his impending doom. But he could not escape the grief, angst and sorrow that filled him.

"You know what's depressing?" Rukka asked himself rhetorically after a short while. "I have known Suzuki Karei (Karei being the last name of his co-worker Suzuki) for about a year and four months, and I've had a crush on her for just under a year. Yet in all that time I haven't even _attempted _to ask her out. And now I am falling to my death. If I had been told all this would have happened a week ago, that is if I believed it, I would have asked her on a date. If she said no I wouldn't even have a full week to be embarrassed. Huh…" Rukka solemnly sighed, "and now I'm making soliloquy as I plummet to my doom. Depressing really."

Rukka then pointed his head to the ground and held his arms to his sides, also shutting his eyes lightly. _Might as well go out on impact,_ he thought, cold and bitter wind pelting his face. _For some reason I never thought I'd die alone. Guh, who am I kidding, this isn't high school. Then again, Ikki's still Ikki. Huh… either way, this is how I go. I never really though that this-_

Rukka's depressed mind was interrupted as the sensation of falling suddenly disappeared. It seemed now that something warm was against his back and the wind seemed to be coming from above him rather than below, as if, he was ascending. "What the-" he muttered, squinting his eyes open as a bit of sunlight fell onto his face, obscuring the image right in front of him.

"Hey, are you okay?" a youthful voice asked, one that seemed rather familiar to Rukka.

"… Anthony Del Rio?" Rukka groggily asked, his vision just starting to clear.

"Who?" The voice asked as the image finally came clear to Rukka, causing him to rapidly awaken in sheer surprise. The figure had a childish complexion and a golden laurel, but something else hit Rukka harder. The wings, at least four feet across, gliding through the wind. Rukka hurriedly turned his head to the ground getting smaller, even though gliding is not an effective method of gaining altitude. However, logic had no more place. The figure in front of him was flying, having saved him from doom, and was indeed and angel.

"You never told me if-" the angelic being began, but Rukka fainted in his arms before he could finish.

* * *

_Well, that took a four day weekend, though probably just because I'm lazy. And I've been playing Wii U. And Gunstar Heroes. And Castlevania. And- you get the idea. But I did get this done and, not to toot my own horn, I'm pretty proud of this redo. But that aside, thanks readers for putting up with my constant revisions. You guys are awesome, so thanks for coming around every time you do!_

_Please, review, I don't really care if you rate I'd rather have a detailed review. So please, even as a PM, tell me what you like and don't like! I'd appreciate it!_

_Oh, and in case you're wondering-_

- Anthony Del RIo_ is Pit's English voice actor_

- _The thing about Ikki and high school will be revealed later, so keep reading to find out_

_I'm a clever one aren't I?_


	4. Chapter 4: A coherent-ish plot forms

_I'm very sorry readers. I truly am. I have done a terrible job keeping up with writing and uploading. It may not be much, but hopefully with this redo of the fourth chapter, you can find it in your many hearts to forgive me despite my lack of a viable excuse._

"Guh…" Rukka mumbled, eyes shut as he slowly slumped himself up into a seated position. "Why do I keep getting headaches?" he mumbled with his throbbing forehead rested in the grasp of his arm. He dragged his hand down his groggy face, pulling open his eyelids. His view began hazy but quickly his surroundings faded into clarity as he loosened the strained grip on his cheeks.

Rukka, who usually was slow to wake without a persistent alarm, quickly fluttered his eyes as his from jolted into being wide awake. The only familiar thing about the room he was in was that there was a bed in it. Everything else was completely foreign within the space. Even his clothes, he noticed, now consisted of a brown chiton with baggy tan shorts underneath in place of his previous t-shirt and track pants.

The room itself, from top to sides to bottom, was made completely of granite, not at all unlike the granite of the platform Rukka had found himself on previously. But most breath taking of all were it's dimensions. The ceiling alone was at least twenty feet off the ground, and each wall easily could have been half a city block long. Also of note was it's incredibly odd shape. There were only two walls which formed the shape of roughly one sixth of a circle. The only support for the rock ceiling was a row of five columns along the curve of the room, which obviously stood opposite it's angle. The structure should not have been stable, something which made Rukka almost immediately uneasy.

The scope of it all was magnified further by the unfurnished nature of the room. As Rukka slowly climbed out of the bed he noticed that the only to pieces of furniture in the room were a stone night stand and the bed it was next to. The bed itself had a frame that resembled a large stone couch and was dressed with soft, silk like material. He noticed a door on the other wall (as the bed was positioned against one of them) and, not knowing what else to do, headed towards it, continuing to pivot his gaze around the room as he did so. However, there was something that quickly caught his eye.

He had not noticed it immediately due to his cloudy thoughts and the fact that the bed he was in was positioned to face away from the row of columns, but from behind said columns came one of the most breathtaking views Rukka had ever see. For miles around stretched an expanse of pure white clouds, though unlike with the pink clouds Rukka had seen earlier, dark mountain peaks popped up from these clouds, like islands in a sea of silky milk. The mountain peaks were grey with the exception of their snow-covered caps and faded the farther out they were, and were at varying distances away from the opening. The spectacle inspired awe in the viewer as the clouds slowly crawled among each other in a thick current, as if it were all some dream of a great Hellenic artist, yet with much more grandeur.

"Wow," Rukka breathed out as he slowly walked over to the sight. He stopped just behind and to the side of the center column, resting one hand on it as he let the splendor of the shinning sky wash over him. "This is… breathtaking," he continued as sunlight bathed his face, "I sure would love to show this to Ikki and-"

"So you like it?" a young, chipper and energetic voice came from behind Rukka.

"Wha-" Rukka recoiled and spun around, pushing forward from the column to keep from falling off into the thick ocean of cottony clouds. His gaze had fallen downwards and now rested on the feet of the figure before him, which were in Greek-styled dark brown leather sandals.

He slowly lifted his head to find that what stood in front of him appeared to be a boy, roughly twelve years old, wearing a white toga and a laurel on top of a head of shaggy brown hair. However, one thing immediately stood out to Rukka and caught all his attention.

The boy had wings.

Indeed, plain as day, two large, white wings stood folded behind the shoulders of the childish figure before him. This caused Rukka to stare in shock, his mouth gaping slightly open.

"Good to see you're up!" The winged boy exclaimed, holding out his hand and not noticing the awkward gaze of the older-looking human, "I'm Pit!" he finished cheerily.

"Um uh," Rukka spat, shaking his head rapidly with shut eyes as he snapped back into what little reality was left to him. "Sorry," he told the shorter figure in worry and confusion, his posture matching his voice, "who?"

"Pit," the boy named Pit brightly exclaimed with a wide grin, throwing up one arm to point at himself with one thumb, "General of Palutena's Army, defender of the human race!"

Rukka stared at the boy for a moment as he held a proud pose before finally speaking up. "As in… the Pit from Kid Icarus?"

"The very same!" Pit proudly called, holding a fist to his chest his face in the air in a triumphant stance, even though he had not recently triumphed over anything.

"So… you're Pit, an angel, from Kid Icarus," Rukka cautiously inquired.

"That would be me," Pit gaily replied, turning his head up to the human. It oddly did not require him to elevate his gaze more than a few inches, as despite him having the proportions of an early teenager, Pit's height was amazingly close to that of the 6 foot 3 Rukka, standing mo more than six or seven inches shorter if both were to stand up straight. "Oh, uh…" the angel resumed, pulling his arms to his abdomen and resting his chin in the cup of one of his hands and inadvertently removing his line of sight from Rukka, "that's right!" he suddenly burst, suddenly listing his head up and snapping the finger of the hand he had been holding his head with. "How's your head?" he asked with a minor smile, as if he was talking to an old friend, as he moved his gaze back towards the human. In his short time starring away he had not noticed the bewildered attention of the human, but even after looking at him he did not notice it.

"My head?" Rukka questioned, bringing his head to his scalp to find a heavy band of gauze.

"Yeah, is it okay?" Pit asked with a tilted head and concerned look as Rukka stared forward at his hand, which he had brought down from it's perch.

"No," the human replied absently, keeping his vision inexplicably locked on his hand, "I think it just broke."

"Do you need some more bandages?" the angel asked, still actually sounding concerned for the well being of the stranger.

"NO YOU IDIOT! MY-" Rukka began to yell harshly, but then stopped at a loss for words and flailed his arms in front of his face in frustration. Soon he gave up and took a deep breathe to calm himself down. "So, let me sort this out, right in front of me is… Pit, from Kid Icarus?"

"Yep," Pit answer, squinting at the ground and rubbing his ear after the human's scream caused it to go numb.

"So, you're… in the real world?" Rukka continued slowly, his head frantically trying to sort everything out while his voice lagged behind like molasses.

"What real world?" Pit inquired of the human, looking at him with confusion.

"So… I'm in your world?" The confused, desperate tone in Rukka's voice did not fit his aggressive personality and air at all, even to someone who barely knew him, like Pit.

"My world?" the angel asked, still sounding clueless, "like the Crush 40 song?"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT CRUSH 40! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?" the brown haired human screamed at the angel, shaking him violently by the shoulders and delivering an intense, furious stare. This made pick scrunch up and face away in a mix of fear and surprise at the human outburst.

"L-look, I'm sure Lady Palutena has an answer for any questions you might have." Pit hurriedly ushered, holding his hands up to protect his pale face.

"…Fine," Rukka said after a deep, somewhat somber breath. He let go of the angel, who then stumbled a bit before regaining his balance.

"So, should we head off?" he asked, unfazed by the event of a few seconds ago. He looked at the human, who he noticed was starring at the ground, looking even a little, sad, oddly.

"You okay?" Pit asked him with earnest concern.

"Fine, just… thinking, trying to cool down," the wiry young man responded, quickly straightening himself and beginning to head towards to door. "Oh, uh…" he began, turning to the angel who had just begun to follow him with the intention of guidance, "why am I wearing a chiton?"

"Oh, I can answer that!" Pit proudly responded. "Your clothes were dirty and a little ripped, so Lady Palutena changed you into new ones."

"What?" Rukka suddenly and flatly asked, stopping dead in his tracks and throwing his arm out like a bar, preventing the angel from moving any farther forward and even throwing him a bit off balance due to walking into the sudden obstacle.

"Uh… Lady Palutena changed you into some new clothes," Pit answered slowly, looking oddly at the human. "It was actually pretty nice of her to do it herself instead of passing the job to a centurion," the youthful angel's voice became brighter and more confident for his second sentence, though it was more so a carefree neutral voice than actually being joyous. He kept his eyes glued to the human, who stared forward in a moment of quiet.

"WHO DID WHAT!?" Rukka suddenly bit out loudly at the angel, busting his ear drums and sending him recoiling back from the human's fury. Pit could almost swear that Rukka's teeth got sharper as he screamed, but he only got a glimpse before hobbling away.

"Guh…" Pit attempted to answer as he stumbled around and held his head down, trying to get past the static buzzing in his head. "Lady Palutena," he began stumbling forward, though Rukka merely stared at him in anger, no bemused by the angel's antics.

"Changed you," Pit resumed, stumbling back on one foot and spinning his arms for balance, "into some new clothes," he finished by throwing his leg forward, shooting the other one ahead of the former and snapping back into a standing position after a short hobble a step backwards.

"SO SOME WOMAN REMOVED MY CLOTHES!?" Rukka screamed at the newly standing angel, looking ready to rip out whatever internal organs lied within him.

"Yeah, why?" Pit asked rather timidly, peeping out from behind his uplifted hands.

This response drew a cold stare from Rukka, followed by a surprisingly nonchalant "You don't watch too many movies, do you?"

"I don't get out much either," Pit blankly replied as he quickly transitioned into a board-like stand, looking back at Rukka with absolutely no emotion what so ever, not even the list bit of fear or jovialness. There was a brief pause before either of them spoke.

"You don't say," Rukka spoke rhetorically, walking forward and pushing Pit aside as he moved outside the doorway and into a hallway, again made almost entirely out of the same dark granite. "They really are sticking to this one rock-type," Rukka made soliloquy as he scanned the hallways and walked down. At one end was an unobscured space that allowed one to view the outside skies, and at the other end was a stone stairwell, which was what Rukka was walking towards.

The human continued his observations. The hall was plain and mostly unlit, though it was less dark than it was darkly colored. He noticed sunlight coming down on top of the stair case, and the presence of a few other doors about the walls of the stone hall. One thing which stuck out about those doors was the fact the appeared to be made of heavy, dark polished wood, which stuck out (if only slightly) from the blackish-purple of the granite work.

"You know," Rukka mumbled to himself as he crossed over towards the stair case, "I expected something like this would be more unnerving." And truly, it did strike Rukka as odd how well he was taking it all. Then again, he had never really had difficulty coming to terms with anything and was very difficult to surprise for more than a few seconds, so his reaction was not entirely strange.

"My God, I mean, I just was having my average miserable day and NOT moving forward in my life, doing the same wheel and axel pattern until I decide otherwise," Rukka began to mutter angrily, "and the hell out of nowhere THIS-" he shouted, throwing up his arms in frustration. However, before he could continue his rage, a question cut him off.

"Who are you?" A cold, callous voice asked from behind. Most people would get a chill from the voice which spoke from behind Rukka, although, it is very hard to chill something which is already very thoroughly frozen.

"Hm?" Rukka replied in an impatient grunt, snapping his head to look over his shoulder at his addressor. Behind him lay Pit, though his clothes were now black instead of white, and his eyes seemed less whimsical and more so demeaning and cold, even a little smug. The voice was also noticeably deeper and significantly more callous, and the wings a dark black.

"Oh great! You again!" Rukka shouted in annoyance as he turned his head forward once more and proceeded to stomp impatiently away from the figure.

"What do you mean, 'again'?" the dark-colored Pit answered in a slow, cold, and biting voice.

"I mean," Rukka snapped, spinning around on one foot and stomping the other to ground himself so that he faced the darkly-garbed angel, "That you Pit, are annoying," he spat in an exasperated, rushed and rhetorical tone, his patience obviously thin as his temper was cool.

"Sorry pal, but I'm not that gullible fool Pit," the figure replied coldly with his arms crossed.

"Then why are you wearing his clothes stained black?" Rukka retorted tersely.

"THESE ARE MY CLOTHES!" The figure burst out in anger, leaning forward suddenly and raising his tightly closed fist up to the human's face, "HE'S THE ONE CRAMPING **MY** STYLE, GOT IT!?"

"Fine, just calm down Pit… ish person," Rukka answered in a more clam, less annoyed tone, with his words trialing off slowly at the end as he stepped back from the vengeful arm of the figure. Despite not knowing the name of the fellow who was the almost exact image of Pit in front of him, Rukka was less so confused as he was intrigued by how quickly the other individual's knuckles turned white.

"Dark Pit," the individual easily inferred to be named Dark Pit spat slowly in a disjointed and aggravated voice. Rukka stared with a confused, somewhat cautious expression for a moment, trying to remember his experiences with Kid Icarus games from when he was a boy. Oh, those times seemed so long ago to him now.

"Oh yeah," Rukka suddenly blurted, snapping his fingers across his chest and transitioning into a more confident, casual stance. "Dark Pit, from Uprising! The one who always get's really annoyed when anyone calls him Pittoo."

It was just as Rukka finished his remark that all became blurry for a split second. When the motion ceased and the image immediately cleared, the human found the palm of the dark angel forcing his head up, exposing his neck so that a shinning lapis lazuli dagger edged with gold could fit next to his throat.

"Call me that again," he spoke with a deep frown and furious eyes, as well as a voice that near perfectly matched his expression, "and you can kiss you head goodbye." Dark Pit's voice remained cold and deadpan, even though he was threatening to decapitate a complete stranger.

"That's a physical impossibility," Rukka blankly stated. He was abnormally calm for the situation, though he suspected that was because the fright had temporarily shut off one to three of his heart valves.

Dark Pit stared at him for a moment, eyes ablaze in a hazel fury of frozen anger. "Shut up," he spat, and he then walked away coldly, not turning his head any direction but forward.

"You know what, I really wish I what the hell was going on right now," Rukka continued to make soliloquy as he wandered aimlessly, observing the expansive scenery. The ground was covered in emerald grass wherever there was not a Greek-styled temple or grey stone pathway. More attention grabbing than that, however, was the fact that the ground was floating in a light blue sky. There was the great layer of clouds around the skyward isles of the land, but not a single cloud rested above it to obscure the aqua blue plains above.

"I'm sure that, whatever it is, Lady Palutena can explain it," A cheerful, unrequested reply came from behind Rukka, causing him to jolt. His head remained forward though, because this time, the voice was undeniable. It was most certainly Pit.

"You know what," Rukka muttered, keeping his head forward, vision parallel to the ground.

"Wha-," Pit began simply, but was cut off

"I ACCEPT MY FATE!" Rukka shouted, throwing up his arms in defeat and turning around to look down upon the angel. "Take me to this 'Palutena'," he started in a bold, spaced-out and frustrated tone, his arms lying tensely at his sides, "so I can find out," he paused to breath, "just why, I am here," he paused for a moment and drew a deep breath, "WITH KID ICARUS CHARACTERS!" His voice slammed into Pit's eardrums like bricks. He closed his eyes and leaned back from the sound, though he kept his feet firm upon the ground. When the scream stopped Pit straightened himself and opened his eyes, beating lightly the side of his head to clear up the residual static.

"Well, good, I guess," the angel replied rather blankly, still fiddling about with his hearing. "So," he suddenly spoke up after a pause, "follow me," he continued, walking off and beckoning the human to follow him. They walked for a bit, their trail eventually melding onto a stone path that lead to one of the buildings, a polished white marble structure. Columns ran all along it's perimeter, encaging the white box that was the main building.

"By the way, I never caught your name," Pit began to make small talk, looking over his shoulder at the stone face of the trailing man.

"And?" he replied in an agitated voice, staring at the angel with his arms held crossed.

"Well," Pit began in a simple tone, looking forward and lifting his finger up in a matter-of-fact way, "when someone says they don't know your name," he continued, opening his hand in front of his shoulder and looking back at the human over said shoulder, "it's customary to tell them what it is,"

"…Rukka," the young man replied flatly, first looking down at the angel and then changing his glance to go straight and over Pit's head as he gave his terse answer. "Gesundheit," Pit replied, nodding his head to the side but keeping his eyes forward.

"What?" Rukka questioned with a slightly angered curiosity and tilted head. "Well, when someone sneezes, you say 'bless you' or 'gesundheit." Pit answered simply, holding one hand near his chest and the other open in front of him, switching their position every couple of words.

"No, my _name_ is Rukka," the speaker made his name known in a highly agitated voice with beady, impatient eyes starring briefly at the angel as he spoke.

"Oh, okay," Pit answered plainly, looking forward. "Chinese?"

"Japanese," the human answered in a flatter, less annoyed tone.

"You don't have the accent," the angel remarked with a bit of curiosity and surprise.

"I immigrated," Rukka flatly put.

"Hm," Pit sounded briskly, stretching out his chin while nodding in understanding. "From where and when?" he asked over his shoulder in his normal, childish voice.

"New York," Rukka tersely answered but without much bitterness. Every since he could speak, he had always referred to New York City as just 'New York.' "I moved to Japan about 5 years ago, I guess,"

"Why do you guess?" Pit simply asked with a oddly blank curiosity.

"Because for all I know the flow of time has changed between here and the actual, existent real world," Rukka sarcastically answered, his voice taking a bitter turn for his closing phrase.

"Are you implying I don't exist?" a confused Pit sounded suddenly, looking back at the human.

"Well, you are a self-acknowledged video game character," Rukka replied in a professional tone.

"…hm, I guess your right." Pit replied flatly, looking forward.

"Of course I'm right," Rukka lashed out boldly though not overly loudly.

"Yeah, I guess so," the angel responded, bobbing his head and ignoring the human's anger. "Well, here we are, Lady Palutena's Temple" he spoke up just a few seconds later, stopping in place and starring up at the towering marble structure before him, with Rukka soon following suit.

"Shiny isn't it?" Pit asked proudly with a giant grin across his face which lay aimed at the temple, hands confidently rested on his thighs.

"Um… yeah," Rukka cautiously spoke, starring down at the angel whom had had positioned himself next to.

"Well," Pit spoke up, nodding his head up at the human but keeping his gaze attached to the white structure, "let's go in," he continued, walking forward up the stairs leading towards the large cedar at the front of the temple, now swinging his arms by his sides.

"…Right," Rukka spoke slowly, watching the Pit climb the stairs. The steps, much like the angel's cloak and the rest of the building's exterior, were an untarnished white, and went up for at least 20 steps, each roughly a foot and a half tall. The design reminded the human of a capital building, with it's unblemished surfaces and towering design. The air of importance it gave off and how it looked like a gargantuan task simply to climb the stairway reminded Rukka of many proverbs he had heard in his time not only in Japan, but also from (and more prominently) the internet and a spring vacation he had taken in western China as a senior student.

"Uh, are you okay?" Pit asked him. Rukka looked to see the angel squatting down a step above him with his arms crossed in his lap and tilting his head in concern at him. The first thing Rukka noticed was how the young angel had gotten significantly taller, and the second thing he noticed was how there were no more steps to climb in front of him. "You're crawling up the stairs" he asked in a slightly worried and rather curious voice while further tilting his head.

A quick glance down confirmed that Rukka was indeed scaling the massive flight of steps on his hands and feet. "Oh," he replied with a small hint of surprise, "uh… that's nothing," he hurriedly added, standing up and swinging his leg over the final step. He brushed himself on and continued to walk forward towards the large wooden door.

"No," Pit replied in an oblivious, correcting voice, "that was you crawling up a flight of steps," he continued to speak to the human, who was now pushing his full weight against the door with one shoulder and both hands.

"I just do stuff like that, okay!" Rukka snapped at the naïve angel, still pressed against the wall.

"Act like an animal?" Pit asked, though to honest, the thought of Rukka acting like some type of beast was not very odd to Pit despite the short amount time he'd known him.

"Yes!...No," the human fumbled angrily about with his words, weaving his head around as his mind and voice got tied up in each other. "JUST SHUT UP!" he screamed, kicking the door and then driving his force into a two-handed lunge at it. The two rapid strikes shoved open the door a bit, which was actually about two feet, but that did not seem very significant given the monstrous size of the door.

Rukka let out a sigh as he took a small number of steps inside and put his hand out to keep the door open. He starred at floor for moment and then turned his gaze to Pit. "What?" He asked spitefully as he saw the angel starring slightly wide eyed and standing slightly rigid in front of him.

"Well, those doors _DO_ weigh over 200 kilograms. Each," Pit answered, keeping his eyes on both Rukka and the door at the same time.

"They're on hinges! It's nothing impressive!" the brunette man shot at the brown-haired angel. He let out a deep breath very quickly before he continued, "let's just go and speak to your petty little Payletana," he finished his demand, leaning his back on the door.

"Don't you mean 'pretty little Palutena?" Pit asked the human a little bit smugly as he walked in front of him, though he kept it well hidden enough that Rukka, not really paying much attention to the tone nearly as much as the words, didn't notice.

"Petty little Palutena, sorry," Rukka spoke sarcastically, looking down at the ground as he rolled his eyes and swung himself off the support of the door. "Were to?" he asked coldly, starring at the angel.

"Uh, this way," Pit answered with a touch of haste, scooting out of the uncomfortable gaze of Rukka and scuttling around to shut the door. After that ended with a large, dull 'thud,' he began to trot down the corridor, with the human following suite.

For the first time as they walked, Rukka really looked at the interior of the building and it almost immediately impressed him. The floors were made of a glossy obsidian like stone, but the whole surface was merely one gigantic piece rather than a series of tiles. As he looked up, he noticed also how the interior seemed to have grown a significantly bigger once they had walked in, which was especially impressive given the one piece floor and already massive appearance of the temple from the outside. Also breath taking was how, excluding a strip of flat flooring roughly 15 feet across running down the middle, a thick forest of smooth, evenly spaced marble columns filled the building. Other than that, however, there was little detail to the interior, with the only other thing present being a small slip of grey that Rukka could just make out in the distance. Given it's size and disorienting lack of a curved horizon though, Rukka though it easily could have been a trick of his eyes.

Rukka continued to follow Pit down the semblance of the corridor, allowing his head to wander sporadically as he did so. He was able to make out that there were indeed walls in the structure, though they were a steel blue which did little to distinguish itself from the solid flooring. He could make out small dark hallways in the walls to the left and right of him, though they did barely more to make themselves more apparent from the walls than the walls did to contrast with the floors.

"So," Pit broke the silence of the walk with a whisper and a slight nod of the head towards Rukka, 'pretty cool isn't it?"

"It's…" Rukka began speaking in a normal voice, which caused a slight echo in the columns, starring upwards and having his arms crossed in thought, "certainly interesting," he answered. In truth, Rukka was amazed by the scope of the structure and was nostalgic due to all the video games the room reminded him of that he had played as child, like the Dark Link room in the Ocarina of Time, or the infinite staircase from Super Mario 64, both of which had terrified and fascinated the seven year old mind he had at the time. Of course, Rukka was by nature to defiant to admit being impressed to a stranger, or someone he found annoying or foolish. Pit, though certainly not wise, wasn't exactly an annoying fool, but the scenario he was in, along with the people he shared it with, seemed to grow more foolish the more time Rukka had to think about them.

"Ah," Pit spoke again after another moments walking, stationing his feet on the ground and snapping his hand up to halt the human's advance. "Here we are," he stated, at which Rukka turned his head from behind Pit and at the floor at which the latter was staring. Upon the floor was the thin grey strip he had made out earlier, which turned out to be a hexagonal pedestal, no more that six inches tall, made of grey stone. One pair of sides lay perpendicular to the two, who remained standing in line for a short bit.

"Here being… where, exactly?" Rukka asked in a confused voice, walking around to stand adjacent to pit and looking down at the side of the angel's head that faced him as he spoke.

"This pedestal, of course!" Pit cheerily answered with a toothy grin that forced him to close his eyes, turning his head to 'look' at the human.

"I fail to see the comedy in this," Rukka coldly replied, starring down at the platform. It was somewhat large, each of the congruent sides being about two and a half feet long, though the only design on the grounded tablet was an inscribed circle which, despite the decent thickness of the line, was a shade of grey not much darker than the rest of the pedestal, making it somewhat hard to detect.

"As do I," Pit cheerily answered while turning his head to the human, showing a wide smile that showed off his full set of very slightly yellowed teeth. This reminded Rukka how he was missing four teeth (even if he kept the ones he had near blindingly white), two of which he had lost fighting people considerably stronger than him and at two more, his back bottom molars, which he had never had in the first place, for whatever genetic reason.

"Then why did-" Rukka began to speak angrily at the angel with a sudden jerk of his head. However, just as he started to accuse the young figure next to him, a bright, golden imminence began to shine unrelentingly upon the faces of the contrasting duo.

"Gya!" the human shouted, jumping back and covering his eyes with his crossed forearms. Whatever the light was, it also came with a roaring screech one would expect such an overblown light to make, which made it so that one would have to shout rather loudly to be heard. "What is that?!" He shouted at the angel from behind his make-shift guard, having to squint so heavily that he could barely make out the shoulders of whom he was talking to, or more so shouting at.

"Oh, you'll see!" Pit cheerily answered with yet another smile at the human, "Provided your eyes still work after the entrance," he more quietly added.

"WHAT!" Rukka angrily screamed at the angel, though even at the full capacity of his voice, it was still rather difficult for Rukka's words to be deciphered over the sound of the light. "I SWEAR THAT IF THIS IS-" he began to threaten, when just as suddenly as it began-

The light stopped, or, at the very least, became silent and dimmed considerably so it more so resembled a light bulb than some strange, very illegal weapon of civil torture.

Rukka lowered his arms to uncover his stone face, which stared forward as he caught Pit still standing up and proud in his peripherals. "What to hell was that?" He asked with a very stern emphasis as he slowly turned his head to the angel.

"Heh?" Pit blankly asked, smoothly snapping his head to observe the rock-like humans face.

"I said," Rukka asked in growing annoyance, "what, the hell, was that," he finished, throwing his arm out towards the glowing pillar that still remained on the pedestal. "Er, is that," he corrected with a quick glance at the dimmed light followed by a shake of his head as he lowered his arm to his side.

"Well, why don't you take a look yourself?" a calm, feminine and silk like voice came out from the light.

At this Rukka snapped his head to face the pedestal again as Pit casually pivoted his in the same direction. Slowly emerging from the light was tall and curved figure, obviously female, with long green hair who would have been found attractive by the standards of most men, with the two males present at the time being among the exceptions, Pit because of his servant child's mind and Rukka because he simply had no admiration for much of anything, especially people.

"I see and I'm still confused," Rukka continues in a typical agitated tone, "Actually, I think I'm a bit more confused now," he said, staring down the surreally tall 6 foot 6 frame of the pine-haired maiden.

"Well then," the voice, still mostly obscured from the light behind her, spoke up only half as a reply, "Pit, why don't you do the honors?" she asked calmly, he shadow indicating that she had turned her head towards the angel.

"Alright!" The brunet angel exclaimed, hopping and place and then marching to a foot or two away from the pedestal. "Rukka," he said, standing proud, tall and prim with his hands behind his back, "I present to you," he continued, opening one arm to indicate the light and the figure in it, "Palutena, the goddess of light!" he finally exclaimed triumphantly as the goddess, as twig-like as her company, stepped out of the light and revealed herself, a bright smile across her face and her eyes closed, holding her hands together in front of her which all in all made her look very cheery and collected.

"Please, I ask that you hold your applause," the goddess spoke with a brightly with a smile, pivoting herself to show her side and holding up her flattened hand towards her (one-man) audience, permeating somewhat conceited confidence.

"I have no applause," Rukka replied quickly in a bitter response, maintaining a very cold and characteristically piercing glare.

"Oh, uh," Palutena's face went a rather bright shade of dark pink, certainly no match for the flames Rukka's skin became when angered, but indeed a noticeable red. "Well, ummm-uh," She continued, very flustered as she straightened herself, not use to being met with anything but the utmost admiration. Standing next to her, Pit had blank stare directed at Rukka with his mouth slightly opened, looking as if he had seen something to interestingly wrong to look away from, shocked that a human being of all things would show such insolence to whom he was raised identifying as the supreme authority who was to be held in the highest regard.

"You two look mortified," Rukka coldly commented, an air of smugness showing through his voice and forcing itself upon his face in the form of a dastardly smile.

"Do you not know who you are talking to?!" Pit suddenly burst, flailing his arms before locking them at his sides, his forearms free to be pointed at the human, though.

"A teenager and green-haired woman who take steroids?" Rukka jokingly replied in reference to the two celestial beings abnormal heights.

"NO!" Pit shouted, though his shout was rather tame and didn't carry much weight, barely making an echo in the large, mostly empty structure of the temple, "YOU ARE TALKING TO THE GODDESS PALUTENA!" he resumed, throwing his arms repeatedly in the direction of the woman, "NO AMOUNT OF PROPER RESPECT TO HER CAN BE GIVEN! SHE IS THE SAVIOR OF HUMANITY, THE DIETY-"

"Yeah yeah, light and benevolence and all that," Rukka's voice, brimming with impatience and disinterest, easily overtook the angels as he gyrated his hand in a circle to emphasis his lack of forbearance, "I really don't care," he spoke callously as he straightened himself and crossed his arms again. "Besides," he began to speak more bitingly, "if no amount of praise to your 'precious goddess'," he made quotation marks in the air with his fingers as he spoke the last two words in a mocking tone, "why even bother?" he finished a bit smugly, his face a mixture of bitterness and conceitedness as he returned his arms to their crossed position and tilted his head in a demeaning manner. In actuality, Rukka was something of pious individual, if a very poor one, but this was probably more so the reason he was being demeaning to the 'goddess' (as he did think of Palutena truly as such) than an atheistic person, she simply conflicted his own rigid ways of belief, and since she was a fictional deity, he felt no need to show respect to her followers either.

The two stood uncomfortably in the next to each other, surprised at the selfish arrogance of Rukka.

"So, may I know what is happening now?" the aforementioned human began, breaking the brief awkward silence. His voice was more frigid and piercing then when he normally was annoyed, which already could be rather frightening, and his eyes were akin to a green-hazel fire as he stared sharply at the duo in front of him. It took a short while (maybe thirty seconds) for either Pit or Palutena to exit their trance-like states, standing still, staring at the young man with a soul somehow both ablaze yet frozen over.

"Fine, sit down," Palutena requested, slightly dazed as she shook her head lightly yet rapidly in order to snap back to whatever constituted as reality in her palace. "And once you have, we shall begin," she finished, straightening herself and clasping her friends in front of her, having regained her composure.

Rukka then sat down, grumbling, with his legs crossed. He put one hand in his lap and rested his chin the other, his very being permeating impatience. In contrast, Pit, who sat with his legs crossed next to Rukka with both hands in his lap, practically oozed excitement and a wide grin covered his face and he gave his eager attention to the goddess.

"We're going to hear a story!" the angel leaned over and whispered to the human as he sat down, both of them keeping their eyes forward.

"Buzz off," the human mumbled scornfully through his hand in response, his squinted gaze parallel to the floor rather than directed at Palutena as Pit's was.

"But then I'll miss the story," the angel replied, looking over at the human.

_Oh, I'll show you a miss-_ Rukka began to think, but before he could formulate a threat, Palutena began to speak.

"Well," She began, clearing her throat, "If you two are ready-"

"We are," Rukka interrupted in agitation, "Get on with it." As far back as he could remember, he had despised inefficiency and wasting time above all other legal activities, or, at least, activities he viewed as legal, since he was also overly rigid in more grey areas of morality.

"Alright then," Palutena added, eyes wide and slightly taken aback, though she knew by then that she shouldn't be surprised by Rukka's lack of good temperament. "Rukka," she inquired of the human, looking down from her pedestal at the two males on the ground, "do you remember anything about a seed, looks kind of like peach pit?"

"Yes?" the angel spoke up.

"Not you, you idiotic brow-" Rukka began to spitefully half-shout at the angel next to him.

"Enough!" Palutena said firmly, standing tall as she summoned a thin beam of light next to her which materialized into a long staff with a very decorative head and slammed it on the ground to further her affect. "Rukka. Seed. Remember one?"

"Hm," Rukka muttered, looking at the floor opposite of Pit the angel, clasping his chin in thought,

"Well?" the goddess asked, borrowing impatience from the individual she was asking.

"Give me minute," the human shot back, his short temper as unmatched as the original in the room, "it's been an odd day," he bitterly finished, returning his gaze to the floor.

"You mean week," Palutena corrected him.

"What?!" Rukka suddenly burst, snapping his attention back to the towering maiden.

"You were out cold for a week," Pit informed him.

"How come-!" Rukka began to shout, slamming his hand down on his legs, "wait a minute! Now I remember!," he changed subjects suddenly, his voice growing more agitated as he spoke. "You changed my clothes!"

"And?" the goddess replied.

"THAT MEANS YOU HAD THE ONES I HAD ON OFF!" the human shouted back. It takes certain quality in order to make one have the presence of a man about to shoot you while sitting down with their legs crossed, and Rukka certainly possessed this quality.

"H-hey!" the goddess answered defensively, holding up her hands close to herself, "I'm not that type of person!"

"I don't follow," Pit blankly stated, a very simple expression on his face and his confused voice ringing through with sheer plainness.

Rukka and Palutena just stared at the angel for moment. They could say what they wanted about him and his intelligence, he was excellent at stopping awkward situations.

"So, about that seed?" Palutena asked brightly, shooting of the fresh slate Pit's naïve interruption has borne.

"Well," Rukka began speaking slowly in response, gradually moving his view from the angel to the goddess, "I did have a seed that was like a peach pit earlier to- this week," he went on, catching himself from saying 'today.' His stare was hardened as he looked at the goddess though, as Rukka was by nature untrusting and slow to accept words from people whom he did not know very well.

"Alright," the goddess sighed as she pinched her forehead, probably well aware of Rukka's incredulousness, "Well, that was a wish seed,"

"…Wasn't that not real?" Rukka cautiously advanced his words, "within a fictional world," he mumbled with his hand on his face after briefly reflecting on the ridiculousness of his situation.

"Well, it was," Palutena replied, "but now they're real,"

"How?" Rukka asked, moving his hand in front of him.

"They?" Pit followed up with a question of his own.

It suddenly dawned on Rukka after Pit's statement that the pine-tree of a deity had indeed been referring to the wish seed, or more accurately seeds he then realized, in plural.

"Wait, you mean there's more than one?" He stated. It was not often in any sense that Rukka carried a mortified look of any kind, but in that moment his face became a ghastly white, as if he was aware that some horrors would befall him for some idiotic reason that would be unable to worm his way from.

"Well, yes, three to be exactly," the goddess replied, rubbing the back of her neck. Neither her nor the human were sure if she was afraid to point out his stale complexion of not, but she found it best that she be cautious.

"Wow," Pit spoke up, looking slightly down at one hand, constantly switching between one, two, and three fingers, "that's like, twice as many as the time when they weren't real,"

"… You're an imbecile," Rukka stated, starring across at the angel.

"Huh?" Pit replied in legitimate confusion.

"Compared to one, three is two more, three times as large," the human stated, slightly annoyed by Pit's uneducated behavior, holding out a hand with three fingers out.

"Please," the goddess asked, half sighing in exasperation, an emotion that she was sure would not be short of hand with the current interactions between the two boys, "I think we should continue this, 'discussion'."

"Right," Rukka added, not exactly sure how to sound given nothing about the previous comment could be perceived as aggravating, moving his gaze off the angel, and in turn Pit removing his gaze from the human, both turning their attention to the slender giant.

"Anyway, yes, there are multiple wish seeds," Palutena stated, clasping her hand behind her back for extra professionalism, instilling a smile of confidence upon Pit's servant face and a bored expression of dread upon the impatient Rukka's.

"Why?" Rukka groaned, dropping his head into one hand and shaking it in more dread. _Simply why?_ he thought.

"Well, I don't ask you why peaches come from peach trees," Palutena replied back in her own agitation, leaning forward with her hands on her hips in impatience.

Rukka then slowly lifted his head up and stared at the goddess. His eyes were wide and his body trembled, not in fear, but his own condescending rage, "BECAUSE THEY'RE PEACH TREES! THAT'S WHAT THEY DO YOU MOSS-HEADED DUNCE!" He quickly got up and on his knees as he screamed, positioning himself to pounce forward with his hands pulled back, ready to choke the goddess as soon as he leapt close enough.

"H-hey! Calm down!" Pit cried, jumping over and pulling back Rukka's arms, saving his maternal goddess from at the very minimum some nasty bruises and mental trauma.

"I'll calm down when I please!" the human snapped back at pit, throwing a kick at his knee.

"OW!" Pit exclaimed, letting do of his prisoner and clutching his injured leg joint, "that hurt!" he exclaimed at the human, who had hurriedly crawled away and now face his would-be captor as both knelt on the ground, facing each other.

"Please, calm down," Palutena begged, holding out her hands as if pressing them against glass, "eventually a war will start if we don't do something!" she shouted in a worried voice that immediately snagged the attention of the loyal Pit and pride-breaking Rukka.

"A war?" Pit asked in a concerned tone, after which he immediately shot up on his feet stand and stood tall, saluting with one hand, "Lady Palutena, I will be willing to-"

"Can it heron boy," Rukka bitterly ushered, taking both the goddess and the angel by slight surprise and he stood up and dusted off his long tunic, "I'm actually interested to hear this. Speak on," he more commanded than asked, turning to Palutena. One could call Rukka many things, mostly negative, but he was certainly assertive and had a dominating presence about him.

"Well then," Palutena continued, clasping her hands together once more in front of her, "I guess that's plenty of a good reason to go on," she commented, adapting to Rukka's rudeness. "If you'll remember 6 years ago from this one, you'll know it was time of-"

It didn't take long for Rukka to start ignoring her exposition, _let's see, 6 years ago…_ he thought, darting his eyes about in a thinking through things way, _that was… 2012. Well, time certainly flies, doesn't it? Bah, I need to stop talking to myself all the time. Anyway, what was special about 2012, other than the world not ending… oh right! That's when Uprising came out! Well, think I remember the story, so I guess it's okay I'm ignoring her now… but I should probably start listening, just to sure._

As Rukka was thinking, Pit was remembering. _Ah yes,_ he began thinking a more serious tone most of his associates would have found bemusing coming from him, _I remember 6 years ago. And then 3 years after that. Which was also 3 years before now,_ the voice in Pit's mind shifted into a more laid back and child like type more fitting of him, _man, those were some good times, shooting underworld monsters, stopping evil, meeting new people, getting mauled and… almost witnessing the end of the human race,_ the young angels thoughts slowed as he began to consider the constant danger that the world seemed to be in every few years, _wow, that was actually a lot darker than I remember it-_

"And," Palutena's voice rang, snapping Pit and Rukka back to reality, "this is how it all ties into now. You see, Rukka, my investigations have shown that you have arrived her in our world through the use of one of these once-forgotten wish seeds."

"How the hell did it get there?" Rukka asked in a voice that was angry because it was also confused.

The goddess answered with a pause, "I have no idea," she simply stated, shaking her head back and forth while standing in a stick-like posture.

"Well great," the human rhetorically spat, rolling his eyes in a manner so exaggerated as to seem like it wasn't humanly possible. He let out a loud sigh and dropped his head into his open palm, "can you send me back to the real world now?" he questioned in exasperation, lifting his head up to stare at the goddess.

"When we get all the wish seeds," the goddess replied cheerily, collecting herself into her normal, more arrogant smile and stance, "then I'll figure something out."

"What do you mean, 'when we find all the wish seeds'?," Rukka angrily bit, agitated that there would be some delay.

"Simple," Palutena went on, "you used a wish seed, so now it's your problem as well."

"That's like saying having a dollar means you have a nest egg," the brown-haired man snapped at the goddess.

"I would hardly call the quest for three seeds with the power to destroy the world on the same level as a dollar bill," she condescendingly replied, a bit of sadistic joy barely dripping out of her mouth at the cleverness of her response.

"That doesn't mean I have to help you!" Rukka snapped back indignantly

"Yes it does," Palutena smirked as she spoke, giving into the bemusement of playing around with the human's poor temper, "_I_ am the one who can get you home, so if you want to go there, then _you_ have to do as _I_ say," she finished leaning forward from atop her pedestal, arms crossed in a somehow demeaning way.

"Damn you," the human answered her so bitterly and quickly that even he was slightly surprised at how hateful it was, though he didn't show it, squinting in and equally despicable stare with his arms crossed defiantly.

There was a silence for a short time. There was a heavy tension which grew more suffocating each second. A condescending young man with a flaming temper and a lack of any patience for any person. An almost disturbingly chipper green haired goddess, standing as tall as her opinion of herself. And a young angel boy, a loyal servant to the goddess as well as being cheery, naïve, curious and loud. Three highly conflicting individuals, all of which knew they would need the other two in order to succeed at what they desired. A way home, a peaceful world, and to serve.

Rukka then let out a long sigh. "Huh… life really freaking hates me, doesn't it?" he muttered under his breath, letting his head fall mournfully into an open hand held close to his torso.

"Hey, don't feel so bad," Palutena comfortingly said, giving a warm smile that Rukka merely scowled at, "you get a cool weapon."

"What cool weapon?" he asked impatiently, though inside the prospect of a means of harming things brightened his mood significantly.

"Well, I think you may have already seen it," she answered teasingly, holding her staff out in front of her and summoning a ball of light, with many parts and sparks circling about like the electrons of an atom. After a brief moment the light collapsed in on itself, molding into the shape of the familiar violet hand guard.

"Impressive, aren't I?" she inquired, her voice brimming self-confidence and a sense of superiority as she suspended the shape in the air. She stepped back with one foot so her front was away from the other two, still holding the staff to her abdomen as she outstretched her open hand, which caused the purple vambrace to float forwards towards the human in a dim cloud of misty light, like a dying flame.

"When Pit brought you back here, you were out cold of course, but you had this on. We removed it immediately, and I've been holding onto to have some tests done," she informed him in her more regular bright tone as Rukka reached out and grabbed the contraption which was supposed to serve as a weapon. It was cold to the touch and caused his skin to tense up slightly. The dull light dissipated after he removed the guard from it, but for a brief moment he could witness the golden glow reflect off the smooth, stone-like violet chassis, the gold trimmings and silver strips. It was still very light despite it's weighty appearance, and as he slipped it onto his left hand again the inside still felt warm and soft rather that cold and stony."It heavily resembles a tiger claw, but it emits some strange energy we couldn't identify," the goddess resumed.

"Since when are you a scientist?" Rukka shrewdly asked Palutena, half-paying attention to his own question in order to observe the vambrace. This time as he grabbed onto the bar inside nothing happened but a slight rush to his head, but he quickly shrugged that off.

"Are you really surprised?" the goddess asked in a prideful tone with her eyes closed and a cheery smile that emphasized her rather self-absorbed mental state.

"Not really," the human answered, moving his gaze up to face the deity with the lime colored locks, except he kept the arm guard in front of his face as well. However, what struck him as interesting was the dark indigo aura that enveloped his hand. _Smug, conceited, satisfied,_ Rukka's mind read. This came as an obvious shock to him, causing him to recoil ever so slightly. It was like earlier, where the colors glowing inexplicably from the arm guard could be read like words. However, no other colors seemed to be readable, every other shade of anything in the room appeared to merely be a shade.

"So, is this a weapon?" Rukka distractedly asked, staring at the glow.

"Yeah lady Palutena," Pit asked spritely, pushing himself against the human's side to get a better look at it, "it doesn't look sharp at all."

"Get off me!" the human exclaimed pushing the angel away in more of a punch using his left, armored hand. As he did so, it glowed a light cyan. _Confused, curious,_ Rukka's mind read again, and at this point it was starting to bother him. "Uh… does anyone else see this thing glowing?" questioned around him immediately afterword and maintain his attention on the royally colored piece of armor.

"Glow?" Palutena asked him in a slightly confused tone, something which was odd to his and Pit's ears coming from her. As he moved his view to the goddess, once again the though _confused, curious,_ came into him mind, and a brief glance down showed that the vambrace was still encased by a light blue atmosphere.

"Yes, glowing," Rukka responded, holding out the arm guard in front of his face, caught in trance with it. _Heart's Key,_ his mind told him, and inexplicably, he knew that was correct, "multiple colors."

"Your probably just having inter-dimensional withdraw symptoms," Palutena hypothesized, "I can only imagine what trauma could have been caused by such a process as to be transported between two radically different dimensions."

"Sure," Rukka sighed out, still observing the vambrace, though he knew that was not the answer, it was so odd and so seemingly random he knew there was more to it that he decided he should just keep it as his own issue, for simplicities sake if anything.

"Hey," Pit asked, tapping the human on the shoulder. Rukka turned to him and immediately another though traveled through his mind. _Bothered, uneasy, perplexed,_ he heard from within his stubborn skull. "Could you stop starring at that? It's getting kind of weird," the angel requested of him in a reserved manner.

"Uh, sure," the human responded, glancing to the briefly at the angelic figure and then straightening himself to face the goddess, but taking a quick glance at his left arm before raising his gaze to actually give her his attention, spotting a browning-bronze glow. _This is strange,_ Rukka thought,_ hey, wait a second, I remember that note said that the soul was my book. Maybe this is what it was talking about… yes, that seems likely_, he concluded, resting on that answer for the time being, _this 'Heart's Key' will allow me to detect peoples emotions… impressive,_ he thought, just then noticing that there had been a short awkward silence going on as he thought.

"Are you… ready to go on?" Palutena slowly asked Rukka as he snapped out of his trance.

"Uh," he let out softly, shaking his head rapidly, "yeah," he finished, straightening himself.

"Alright, as you pointed out Pit," the goddess spoke, nodding to her general, "this vambrace isn't very sharp,"

"Heat's Key," Rukka instinctively corrected, as he was oh so prone to doing in his perfectionist mentality whose constant denial likely had a part in the minuscule length of his emotional fuse.

"Well, you certainly grew accustomed to it quickly," Palutena commented brightly with her typical small smile and closed eyes, an expression Rukka was growing rather tired of (though to be fair he quickly grew tired of anything), "you even gave it a name."

"…Right," the human cautiously responded.

"Well, back on topic," Palutena resumed, not sacrificing her cheery demeanor, "unless you plan to bludgeon eyeballs, octopodes, obese vegetables and demonic servants of hell to death, you should know how to draw the blade on your claw. Simply throw it back and think it," she finished statically.

"That's it?" Rukka asked a bit incredulous, half starring at the goddess and half starring at the Heart's Key.

"Yes, it's that simple, like playing a Mario game," the goddess brightly continued.

_Simple, but not easy,_ Rukka thought, rolling his eyes. He took deep breath and closed his eyes. He was leaned slightly forward but quickly snapped his posture straight and threw the claw slightly behind him, causing an audible _*shing*_, like the drawing a long sword. He opened his eyes and looked down at his arm. Out of the three silver strips at the front of the Heart's Key now protruded three sharp, gleaming silver machete-like blades, each one about 10 inches long.

"To retract the blades, just think about it, you don't even need to move!" Palutena, still oddly chipper, informed him, hands clasped warmly in front of her.

In response, Rukka moved into a causal stance and looked down his arm. All it took was a brief thought for the blades to dissipate in a way that made it appear that they were being retract into the claw, though this was obviously not the case, with a similar _*shing*_, appropriately like the sheathing of a long sword.

"Wow," Rukka stated, turning his armored hand in front of his face with an amazed stare directed at it. As he did such, a brief idea popped into his head, causing him to smile a little inside. "So, how do I fire from this?" he asked.

"We'll cover that later," Palutena stated quickly, not wanting to give high powered laser projectiles to the rash human while he was in her palace.

"Alright then," Rukka sighed, unable to keep from sounding disappointed, which was strange coming from him, who was always the one to support everyone sucking it up and not complaining no matter the scenario at hand.

"So," Palutena began, "are you all ready for some adventure?"

"Yeah!" Pit half-shouted, throwing his fist out excitedly in an uppercut-like manner and putting a large, bright grin.

"Your making me any way," Rukka answered in exasperation with a impatient expression, "might as well enjoy it," he sighed out, looking down at his Heart's Key. _Enthusiasm, joy,_ it read with a flower-like yellow aura in reference to the angel next him, whose emotions were the strongest and closest to him and thus, as Rukka confusingly understood, the ones that would be read.

_Boy,_ Palutena thought, keeping her cheery disposition towards the two males in the room, _this is probably going to be a long adventure…_

* * *

_Well, it took me a while, but I feel pretty good with this chapter redo. I really am sorry readers, but it's just that every time I try to write, I get a new game or start itching to play an old one. On top of that I had a nasty case of writers block for about month early on in the writing process, so it was hard for me to even get an idea about what to write. So over the past 2, 3, maybe even 4 months, if not more, I have really only dedicated 20 or so minutes to this chapter at a time, and even then only a few times a week. But since school let out, my brother went out of town, and I finally managed to think something up, I was finally able to sit down with minimal distractions and get this done._

_It is a lot longer than I was expecting, and I hope you all enjoy it. It is the longest chapter I've done, and this probably will become a regular thing, looking at patterns._

_So, whether or not you enjoyed this chapter, think my excuse is valid or think I should keep on writing, I would truly appreciate any constructive feed back, what you liked, what you thought needed improvement, how I could improve, anything you have, please tell me, either by review or private message!_

_Also, believe it or not, I have the audacity to go on another hiatus. Soon I'll be going to work for a large part of the summer so I can get the money for a laptop, so I probably won't be able to write an actual chapter, new or a full redo, until maybe late July. However, once I get my laptop I should be much better able to write, since I travel a lot, so after that you can expect even a minute increase in my updating rate. But to be fair, would that really be hard?_


	5. Chapter 5: A Valoween special

_Well, an author's note. Never thought I'd do one of these._

_Let's cut back on the boredom and get the point. A quick shout-out to Pixel Jam for being a big help with earlier chapters._

_And now for something more relevant. Because I felt like it, this will be a random Valoween special, because I freaking feel like it._

_See, Valoween, Valentines Day and Halloween, huh? Huh? Huhhh-oooo just forget it._

Rukka's pose remained unbroken for a bit, and after a while it began to get uncomfortable with Pit and Palutena staring at him with awkward expressions.

"uhhhh…" Pit began. "You can stop that now."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." Rukka replied, straightening himself "My bad… so what do we do now?"

"Well," Pit once again began, head to the side and back with his hand on his chin. "We could go fight the underworld army. But first we have to wait for them to attack and raid and pillage and r-"

"Why?" Rukka put a heavy loop on the word, waving his hand in a circle & then opening to, quite literally, ask why.

"Simple!" Palutena said with a bright smile. "Video game logic! We have to wait for the enemy to strike first."

Rukka replied to this with an interrogative glare, something which kind of spells out _'what kind of moron are you,'_ a question of a mood quite characteristic of Rukka, impatient aggregation. "Yes, because absolutely _NO ONE dies_ in video games, especially not when the hero's supposed to protect them but arrives half an hour after monsters start trying to kill them, with their _side-quests and mini games, _all that 100% stuff. You know, priorities." He put on a highly exaggerated grin.

"GUYS!" The deep voice of Dark Pit rang after the sound of door being slammed open,ending the discussion. "We have a problem!"

"What?" The three around him screamed, anxious to hear the horrors that would come. They gave him their undivided attention, and Rukka's Heart's Key glowed white, for fear, in the tense environment.

"The underworld army," Dark pit said, panting for breath.

"Yes?" The three said in unison.

"Is,"

"Yes?"

"At this very-"

"STOP TROLLING ME OLIVE BOY!" Rukka jumped forward as he shouted, giving Dark Pit a furious death-stare from twelve inches away (About 30 cenimeters for you metric types)

"The underworld army is trick-or treating all the candy from the humans!" Dark Pit screamed with his eyes closed in fear and his hands clutched to his chest.

"That's terrible!" Pit was taken aback as he gave a shout of fear, but Rukka and Palutena both stared at the dark angel with another _what kind of moron are you? _look. "What?" Rukka asked in probably the most monotone voice he would ever speak in. "You hyped us up like Americans on free-burger day for some stupid western-world holiday!" The anger in his voice swelled as he spoke, as Rukka was very easily annoyed by both stupidity the testing of his patience.

"But it's awful!" the two pits replied, Pit fearful because, well, just look at how naïve he is, and Dark Pit because he has a very childish attitude about candy. "Absolutely ter-"

"Aren't they just celebrating a holiday?" Rukka gave a look a surprisingly mild frustration as he interrupted for the 30th some time that day, being met with a face of shame from the two winged morons. "Uhhh… yes" the two gave a nervous look to the other.

"Why am I still surpri-" Rukka, in a twist of irony, was cut off by a ringing sound. The three males in the room brought their attention to the source of the sound, Palutena.

"Oh, sorry," she said, looking at a pocket on the left side (from her perspective) of her dress to pull a phone from it.

"Since when did you have that?" Rukka still wondered why he was still surprised as he asked.

"Every one has an up to date cell phone these days!" She replied with a smile so cheerful that she had to close her eyes.

"I still use an IPhone 4." Rukka replied, crossing his arms.

"Hah! Loser!" the two Pits shouted.

"Shut it" Rukka answered in heavy annoyance, lifting his claw to a battle ready position

"Yes Sir!" the angels replied, standing quietly at attention in fear of the violent human.

Palutena sighed and shook her head before putting the mobile up to it. "Palutena, talk to me. Oh hi Cupid. Alright. WHAT!? But why? Okay, alright, come over." She put the phone up. "I just got a call from-" She stopped herself again, waiting for Rukka to interrupt her.

"Just finish when I shut up." Rukka gave the traditional cold answer, getting an odd stare from the people around him. "Are seriously still surprised by this?" Rukka was man who caught on quickly and had a rash habit of expecting others to do the same.

"Alright then," Palutena resumed. "Cupid is coming over because there has apparently been a sudden decrease in the average amount of love generated by sentient beings."

"Why do I care?" 4000 yen (about 50 bucks) says you know who said that.

"Because 4000 yen says you are the cause." Palutena put on a more rough tone for this statement, but Rukka didn't seem to falter, continuing with a standard hard stare. "Insolent little-" she muttered under breath, "Look, without a high enough average love output, Cupid will die, and if Cupid dies-"

"Then shit just goes haywire!" Rukka put another exaggerated spin on his words, this time ending with his right hand open away from his chest.

"Exactly, because if Cupid dies there will be no love to motivate people, thus they may just goof around or get depressed and all in all be unproductive," This time Rukka did take the chance to interrupt, "And leave the world, err… this world, to rot."

"Exactly my insolent forced companion."

"Agreed. But I still don't care." Rukka coldly turned away & walked "I'm going to go sleep in that room you left me in until this all blows over."

"But what about helping Cupid?" Palutena asked.

"He'll figure out something."

Rukka arrived in the bed from earlier in the day; only know it was about 6 o'clock, by Japanese standards at least. It was a dark evening, but given it was fall on earth, that was to be expected. Rukka had changed from his plain white chiton into a more comfortable, medieval styled blue silk tunic. He had brush his teeth, showered (albeit uncomfortably given the facilities lack of curtains. Thankfully for anybody, no one came in during Rukka's bath), eaten an energy in hopes of using the sugar crash to fall asleep, the like.

As he strolled across the room to the large bed, which was shaped like a large stone sofa, adorned with thickly cream colored sheets, a large pillow and a big, fluffy, bright red and blue comforter. Aside from the flamboyant bed whish lay on the southern wall though, the room was very plain. The floor, while large, was nothing but an empty expanse of granite. The rooms wedge-like shape was unique and the view good, in fact, it was even more spectacular in the evening, when the setting sun set the sky ablaze with a bright shade of tangerine, but these things quickly ran out of effect affect after about in hour in Rukka's case. Even his night-stand was simple two drawer piece of stone, it didn't even have legs.

_Oh well, _Rukka thought, _at least it has an elevated bed. A well prepared one at that. Haven't slept in one of these since the week I moved to Japan_. Rukka had just slipped into bed, resting his head on the firm yet airy pillow with the color of condensed milk and pulled the blanket up to his chin when a sudden loud *THUD* boomed through the room as his door was knocked of its hinges and onto the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Rukka jolted up, slipping on his claw and readying to slash whatever he saw. He looked around, seeing that everything was in its bland place, albeit a bit more dimly lighted, except for one little short appearance.

"Sheesh, calm down guy!" This was Cupid. If you ever saw the Cupid from fairly odd parents, it's almost exactly like that. Same pink vest, diaper, exaggerated accent which I'm sure offends some culture, only Mexican, with a hint of George Lopez in his voice (which went along with his comically disproportioned head), and carrying a larger pink ivory bow with a quiver of arrows .Why is Cupid Mexican? I have absolutely no idea, just roll with it.

"Are you Cupid?" Rukka asked, taken aback, with an awestruck stare.

"Yes, how did you know?"

"Oh, I don't know, the wings, the bow, the nauseating amount of pink. Oh and, WHY ARE YOU MEXICAN!" Rukka put a bit of space between those last few words if anything to emphasize how strange that fact was.

"Enough talk and don't question my ethnicity, I need you to use these," Cupid indicated to the bow and quiver he was carrying, "and go make some people all lovey-dovey so I don't die from the drastically lowered average love output."

"Why don't **you** do it?"

"Simple. I can only use the Cupid's Arrows on valentine's days, part of my contract,"

"You have a contract?" Rukka's voice went from its usual shrewd sarcasm to a shocked curiosity.

"Baby-"

"Call me that and you'll need a new diaper," and the shrewdness returned.

"Fine, fine, Rusha or something,"

"Rukka."

"Gesundheit."

"That's my name, not a sneeze" Rukka said with frustration almost seething out of his voice. He had always had problems with people misspelling or misinterpreting his name, even before it was Rukka, and after a while, it got tired.

"Shut up Franky, here's the run down. I need someone as cold hearted, unlovable & non-sexual as you in order to safely use the Cupid's Bow, you know, not abusing the power, saving me while remaining in my contract. Not to mention that Minds lock-

"_HEARTS_ lock"" Rukka wasn't sure whether to give a stare of pride or scornful interrogation, so he decided to give a combo of the two.

"Who cares, it means you've been deemed good with emotion," this comment caused Rukka to chuckle a bit, _Me, good with emotions, ha! Ridiculous._

Cupid resumed after a short breath, "take this and make some people fall in love, I invited a bunch of random people over to Skyworld and I put a booth outside to make your life a bit more convenient, because I'm so nice like that, now take this stuff." Cupid threw the pink arch bow and the leather quiver to Rukka and, with a quick "See ya!" flew away.

"Curse my good hearted nature." Rukka stared at the feminine weapon, surprisingly not annoyed. "These things must not be so powerful if I can break their strength so easily." He thought aloud as he wandered to the stair well. Rukka went up top to the main plaza of sky world, where he was surprised to see most of the Kid Icarus cast crowded outside near the temple. "Can't say diaper man isn't consistent." He mumbled while looking around. He perambulated the place a bit (you'd be surprised at how large it is) before he came across a sumo ring. No one else was present for a majority of Rukka's visible range, just some specks wandering in the distance since most of them had entered Palutena's temple.

"Huh, haven't been to one of these in a while." He sat down on a small wooden bench outside the ring and waited for a short while. Just as he was about to leave from boredom two figures began to rapidly approach each other. First, Dark Pit flew in, landing in the ring and kicking up a cloud of dust, sending Rukka to jump behind a medium boulder on instinct to observe. Just as he hid behind the rock, Pandora (in Amazon, or non fire spirit, or whatever the heck you want to call it form) hovered at top speed into the ring, stopping with no inertia. Rukka crouched for a moment, looking at the would be opponents, and then realized he still had the bow. _Why the hell not,_ he thought, getting into a comfortable crouch. The evening grass smelled sweet and fresh as he readied two shots at once. _This should be interesting,_ he wondered whether or not he could simply just pick up a bow and land two arrows on two targets in one pull, especially given that now only a sliver of golden sunlight remained.

"Pandora! You stupid wing escaping ride hitching valley girl!" Dark Pit screamed, surprising Rukka with the intensity of his voice.

"Dark Pit! You power absorbing female-dependent abomination!" Dark Pit and Pandora growled at each other, ready for combat. The tension was so thick that it's physical manifestation would have shamed the thickness of molasses. _Hope this works._ Rukka pulled back, twisting the arrows slightly with his fingers to aim and released. He shut his eyes, wanting to avoid whatever display may occur.

_SMACK!_ Rukka opened his eyes to see that both arrows hit their respective targets squarely in the thigh. The two seemed to enter a trance like state for a short time, followed by putting some kind of childish moronic look with their heads inclined, as if they were curious children. After about ten second, one never would have guessed they were about to rip out each others undefined internal organs. Then the arrows slowly disappeared, releasing their magic.

_Wow,_ Dark Pit thought, his heart beating heavily. His view was completely taken up by the figure of Pandora over a floral background (kind of like the evening sky in Sponge bob back when the show was good...), but for some reason, he was fine with that._ She…she's beautiful. So…beautiful why didn't I notice until now? How did I miss those deep purple eyes, lush hair, toned… GRAH! What am I thinking, or feeling, or whatever this is! For some reason, I can't get Pandora out of my head! That beauty, serenading voice, enticingly calm expression, oh man… I think…_

At the same time, all Pandora could see was Dark Pit over the same background, and like Dark Pit, she was okay with that, and her heart was racing as well. _I can't believe I didn't notice it before,_ her thoughts began,_ but he's actually pretty handsome, and so dedicated, I remember. Not to mention his hair is better than mine. Guh… I don't know why, but just the thought of him drives me crazy! But not, bad crazy, but, good crazy. Oh, I haven't felt like this in centuries. I think…_

"I _KNOW_ I love you!" the two half-screamed simultaneously. "Really?!" Dark Pit said, his face agleam. "Yes, yes I do!" Pandora shouted, hover-speeding to Dark Pit andthrowing her arms around him. "More than anything I've ever known." "I… I'm glad you feel that way," Dark Pit said, his eyes glued to hers and hers to his. "Pandora…"

"Yes Pittoo?"

_Oh shit!_ Rukka thought at the utterance of that line. But instead of Dark Pit getting mad, he actually seemed to enjoy it; enough so that rather then reply with words he pulled Pandora's face to his and began to kiss her with a passion she almost immediately returned. And all was still. First a minute seemed to go by, then another minute, them just standing, err… floating their, locked together.

"Better head out before they run out of oxygen." Rukka said as he walked away, starring at the pink aura on the Hearts lock, an indication of true affection. There was a hint of another color, but I'll let you guess it next chapter. "I don't want to be held accountable for anything in some way." Said Rukka as he walked off into the cool wind of the night search of target practice. Along his aimless path he caught a glimpse of cyan light from the corner of his eye. Turning his head, he saw the flash was one of many coming from… Palutena's Temple?

"Huh," he said, walking towards the temple, "what is with all that light?" It was already dark out and a wide spectrum of colors was emanating from the marble structure, making it very hard to ignore. Rukka went inside the deceptively large building to see a massive disco-neon light party going on. The building was half-flooded with people, a bit less crowded than Rukka expected a place with such bright lights to be. Said lights glowed many colors, magenta, cyan, cream, lime, etc., waving across the room from, one, two, three, no FOUR strobe lights machines illuminating the room. They created a water-reflection like effect on the obsidian floor, which surprisingly didn't make anyone nauseous.

"WHAT THE?!" Rukka had to yell to hear himself, as music was blasting through out the compound, making difficult to even think. Given the sound and lights, it was hard to believe no one was sick. "AT LEAST IT'S GOOD SONG." Rukka began looking around unwittingly mumbling along to the music which was playing.

(The song was Chiptune Tuesday Castlevania Style Music "Gazo" by Carfie. Check it out on YouTube, its good)

"Now, who can I shoot?" Rukka looked around, searching for targets. None really stood out to him as productive or something, he didn't know, he just cared for some reason.

_To old, to good & evil, to creepy, to stupidly old and creepy_, Rukka's mind kept searching the crowd for potential pairings. _I'm starting to think like Ikki, _he though, _always obsessing over stupid stuff like this in my head, only now it's real_. He was about to turn back when something struck him. Palutena was headed down a side hall, and Pyrrhon was failing miserably at scoring a date. _Perfect._

"HEY PYRRHON!" Rukka still needed to shout over the music, which seemed to be looping. "WHAT?" the sun god yelled back "WHO ARE YOU?"

"THE BUTLER!" Rukka replied sarcastically, which Pyrrhon didn't notice. _No wonder he can't score a date, he's as dumb as __the sun, and it can't think._ "MORE IMPORTANTLY, PALUTENA WANTS TO SEE YOU IN THAT HALLWAY!" he continued, indicating the south-west corridor. "OH. OKAY." The feeble minded macho-man went to the hall, not noticing Rukka as he slipped right by him to an open rec-room door; right behind the one Palutena was in (which was a woman's restroom). _Correction_, he thought, _he's dumber than the sun minus Steven Hawking_. The green haired woman stepped out with a long strand of toilet paper stuck to her shoe, which Rukka had never noticed she was wearing, and I doubt anyone else had either. *Snort*, Rukka had to fight to suppress his childish urge to laugh, which caught Palutena's attention. _Oh crap!_ He though, dashing behind the corner. It didn't take long for Palutena's attention to be taken away again.

"Well hey there, Pretty Palutena!" The music was mush quieter so far down the corridor, so Pyrrhon's voice carried well without shouting.

"Oh, high Pyrrhon" Palutena said sotto voce (I need to stop using such advanced words don't I?), not nearly as pleased to see him as he was her. Rukka had known Pyrrhon for under a minute, and he knew he imponderably stupid, but Palutena had known him for what, seven years? And in those seven years, Pyrrhon had done some _STUPID_ stuff.

Like the time he dived off the high board in the local Skyworld pool (Oh come on! How could they not have one?). Not really stupid, right? Well, when your made of fire, yes it is. Most of the water evaporated into a cloud of steam on impact, and he almost cracked his skull in two when his his head had hit the concrete flooring. Or that time all the gods took an IQ test. Pyrrhon scored a *sarcastic gasp* 1 point. But, being an idiot of his caliber, he took as meaning he scored the highest. So for a whole week he bragged about his score (of one) until someone explained to him how IQ tests work.

Just as Palutena was going to tell Pyrrhon to step aside, Rukka dashed by, stabbing an arrow into her back and making his way out. Pyrrhon didn't notice Rukka, and after Palutena fell it took him a bit of pondering to figure out that the arrow sticking out of her back might be a bad sign. "OH FIRE BALLS!" He shouted, kneeling to lift the goddesses head, not noticing the arrow dissipating, even though it made on audible hissing noise. Palutena's eyes fluttered open, and the first thing she saw was Pyrrhon. "Get over here!" She demanded smiling, pulling him into a kiss. _WHOA! A lady who came to me!_ He though, _Sweet melted caramel!_

Back outside, Rukka began to yawn, wondering if an indication would be given when he was done. He also wondered whether the couple had just tried to start was successful, as he didn't stay long enough to get a Hearts Lock reading. It was almost 9 o'clock and it was very dark out. The faint chirping of crickets in the distance of wherever they were glided across the plain, unchallenged aside from the sound of Rukka's footsteps. The air smelled saturated and grassy, and the moon (which seemed mush closer than on earth, most likely due to the elevation of Skyworld) provided most of the night sky's light. "Well, I *yawn* am tired," Rukka started as he crossed the plain. "Should get this done with." He rubbed his eyes and began to mumble, "king ittle inged di-er man aekin' me oot peoplz wih 'is tupid arrows, n' some in' bout shum booth."

Not looking, Rukka hit his head head on a sheet of hard wood, falling to the ground

"What the?-" Rukka put a hand on his throbbing head and looked up to see, what else, but a booth. A rather plain booth, nothing more than a cartoon lemonade stand, but it did have a sign posted above it and a disappointing lack of lemonade. "So this is that booth he was talking abou-" he was interrupted in the middle of straightening himself, still looking at the ground, head still clutched and throbbing. "Oh, are you open?" An innocent voice asked.

"Huh, oh, you." Rukka looked up to the sight of Viridi surprisingly. Straightening himself, he himself asked a question, "open for what?"

"Oh," She began to answer with an disgustingly cutesy and innocent look, hands together in front of her, eyes closed, head turned, light blush, the like. "Open to make people fall in love."

"What?" Rukka questioned, with a puzzled look.

"That's what the sign says," She replied, pointing to the piece of wood atop the booth. Rukka walked around to see that the sign did indeed say MAKE SOMEONE LOVE YOU.

"They'll make a business out of anything," he mumbled walking back around to behind the counter. "Alright, I am Rukka-"

"Gesundheit."

Rukka began to breathe in for a long winded response, but decided against it. "I am here, at this counter, to make people fall in love, for a price." Rukka rubbed his fingers together, his head tilted with a maniacal smile on, which seemed to bother no one.

"Fine, money is no object." Viridi ended her comment by slamming a 14-ounce (roughly) piece of gold in the shape of a large leaf onto the counter. Rukka stared at the financial asset for a few seconds before continuing. "Um, anyway, who can I make love whom for you?" He tried his best to replace his awe with a professional cheeriness, but it was rather ineffective.

"Oh, that's easy" She said, waving her hand down. "I want you to make Pit love me."

Rukka stared nonchalantly before responding. "Please, tell me why?"

"Well," Viridi began, "I don't know how to put it. I just feel, well, here's an example. When Pit was fighting, no, let me restart, when Palutena was all evil, one part of me wanted to help because I knew it as right, even if my mind says other otherwise. But there where two more parts. One wanted to hekp so Pit would be happy, but another didn't so… that… he'd be mine," The youthful goddess looked towards the ground.

"Hmmm…" Rukka went, "continue. You've gotten me interested."

"Oh, alright," Viridi was slightly shocked, probably because a human who had an immense reputation for being a shrewd pest (as information travels quickly between gods, well, not to Rukka but I already said that earlier in the series) was actually not only listening acceptingly but interested in the story. "Well… I just feel, so warm, so safe, so…so _whole_ when Pit is around. And when Pit is out fighting, which is usually, I just get so worried about him. Like what if he get's hurt? What does that leave me to live for? Because, after spending time with Pit, getting to know him, my old objectives don't quite seem so important. You know, he's so nice, so noble, so dedicated, sees the good in everything, I don't want him to be in danger, but I don't know how I would tell him how I feel. I'm afraid he'll just reject me." She stood for a second, expecting a harsh comment. "What? No scornful comment? Criticism? Anything?"

"Well, no." Rukka was looking up at the stars. "Back home, I feel similar about someone. Provided, we work in a safer field of business, but the feeling is there. But enough of about me." He looked back at Viridi. "I have been paid to do a job and it's getting late, so I should chop to it." He started off, beckoning the nature diety. "Come along. Both parties must be present in order for this to work."

Along the way, Rukka remained quite, scanning the horizon. Viridi followed suit, thinking to herself. _Wow, I always though of humans as ignorant plant killers. I mean, Pit helped that a bit, but this guy surprisingly understands. Maybe Palutena has a point on this. It makes Pit's cause seem all the nobler, and all the more-_ Viridi's thoughts of whatever they would be were cut of as Rukka put up his left hand to stop her. "What's that?" She inquired about the Hearts Lock.

Rukka readied his bow as he spoke, "Oh, this? This is the Hearts Lock; it allows me to read emotions. But now I need you ready to run to your angel."

"What?"

"He's over there." Rukka aimed his bow at Pit, who was strolling across the dark landscape to the sleeping quarters. It was about 9:30 and the moon, though still brighter than normal, was not giving of a great amount of light. If the hill Pit was walking across hadn't gone across the moon (based on perspective, not literally), Rukka very likely would have missed his presence. Rukka calmed himself with a deep breath of the cool noon air, smelling the dew-covered grass. With that, he let loose an arrow between breaths, which hit Pit square in the shoulder, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"PIT!" Viridi screamed, dashing to the side of her beloved. "PIT ARE YOU OKAY!?" She grabbed his shoulders and shook him, which caused the arrow to begin its work. _Wha? Viridi?,_ Pit thought as his view showed nothing but the worried face of the girl, which didn't bother him._ Oh that's nice. She looks cuter than ever. Wait, cuter than ever? I know Viridi's cute and all, the vibrant personality and burning passion but, wait, what am thinking? _His heart pumped furiously, every beat as rhythmic and intense as the last_. And what am I feeling? It feels…good. But what is it? Maybe… no, but probably… but, almost definitely… just yes! And I can't hide it!_

"Viridi!" He put his hand on her waist to stop her, and she gave him her direct attention. "You are the cutest most vibrant and enjoyable person I ever met and I feel the… sudden, uncontrollable urge to tell you… that I love you." Pit's voice grew softer on the last phrase, and for a second he just stood fearfully, cringing. The arrow had disappeared now, and it must have been a strong one. Either that, or Pit must have already liked her before. I'll let you choose the one you like more.

"Pit… I… I…" Viridi began to cry, no, sob is a better word. The tears streamed down anime-style and her face was soggy and full of mixed emotion.

"Oh, s-sorry Viridi," He said, removing his arms. "That was really rash of me and I'm sorry I-" He was cut off by the sudden embrace of the goddess. "Pit, I'm not crying because I'm said. No, it could be happier right now, with you, just being together…"

"Viridi…" Pit's face was full of surprise. "I-I'm glad you feel that way." He put his arms around her, and the two began to kiss.

_Ain't that sweet,_ Rukka thought, secluded in the branches of the one tree (an oak, more specifically, and a strong one at that) in the surrounding acre or so, taking notice of the vibrant pink glow of the Hearts Lock, giving his hand a steady dose of heat from the strength of the two's feelings. _Truly touching. Ah, young love, so innocent, almost warms my cold heart, and for twice in a day that says something_. He slid down quietly, careful not to disturb the couple, and made his way back to his sleeping chamber.

"Well," Rukka stated while yawning, "that was quite a day." It was about 10 o'clock and Rukka was both tired and weirded out. "I made Kid Icarus characters fall into passionate relations, oh wait! I forgot one!" Rukka ran out real quick and saw Magnus (who will be more prominent latter) and Gaol talking with scorns on there faces, and proceeded to hit them with love arrows before scurrying back into his room. "A weapon of mass destruction," he said, about to put the pink weapon under his bed before the voice of Cupid interrupted him. "Hey guy!" he yelled, zooming over, "you have done GREAT, best unofficial cupiding I've ever seen by a long shot! I'll be good on life force for the next 50 years minimum! I am promoting you to honorary second vice-major of the Cupid Legion International Foundation of Love."

"Uhh… thanks, Rukka said, handing the diaper clad Hispanic the bow. "You uh, may need this in a few months."

"Alright, thank you you are such an honest person!" Cupid pinched Rukka's cheek, drawing a scowl from him as he slapped the angel's hand off. "Sheesh, no need to be mean!" He said right before flying off "See ya suckers and su-" Rukka had already crawled into bed and fallen asleep before the harbinger of love could finish.

_OH MY _**_GOD_**_ THAT TOOK TIME! I know its two whole days late but I was busy, okay? I can only get these done on weekends. Either way GOOD NIGHT PEOPLE!_

_Please feel free to review. All constructive criticism is welcome and all opinions are also welcome to be shared._

_11/6/12- First chapter overhaul. Hope it made it nothing but better._


	6. Chapter 6: Bet u didn't see that coming!

The wind blew gently across the floating archipelago of Skyworld, rustling the leaves of the occasional tree. The birds chirped joyfully as the greenery, moist with dew, shone in the brilliance of the rising sun. The bright light poured across the landscape, illuminating the quiet morning with its white rays.

A beam of this light spread its way across the blue wool blanket of the young-looking angel, Pit. His face slowly warmed, and he turned over onto his side from his supine position, pulling the blanket over his face with a groan. After the light made it apparent to Pit he would not be falling back asleep soon, he threw the cover over itself and sat up, rubbing his eyes with his left hand. After a minute recuperating, he stood up and walked over to a mirror which lye over his dresser. He took a look at himself, the messy hair, squinted eyes, pajamas which looked exactly like his day clothes without the belt or laurel, and stared for a moment. He turned away, walking across the well furnished area which was his room. His sofa like bed, which was resting on a distinctive white rug, was adorned with a sponge pillow and a dark cover. His dresser on the opposite wall (as the room was wedge shaped) was large and polished with a glistening coat of brown, and it two was on a white rug. Three simple plastic lawn chairs stared out the open end of the room, offering an excellent view of the marshmallow like clouds. A large television set was set in its place in a U-shaped TV cabinet in the center of the room, and a green-cushioned futon lay facing it from about eight feet away. He changed into his normal tunic and applied his hair gel (how else would it look like that?), then began to walk out. On his way, Pit began thinking thoughts. About half an hour earlier, a loud awoken him, but only for second, and he had limited recollection of it. _I wonder what that sound was. Or was it sound? Maybe I just heard it, and wasn't really there. Probably. Hmm… I wonder what Viridi is doing this morning? Eh, I'll ask later, right now, I'm starving._ So his thoughts went as he headed for the living station of Skyworld, at which there was a kitchen and dining room.

_About 30 minutes earlier…_

Dark Pit woke up in his bed. Now, this would puzzle no one if not for the fact Dark Pit never used his bed, much preferring to sleep on the black cushions of his futon. _What am I doing in the bed?_ Dark pit wondered, sitting up and scratching his head. His room was not nearly as expansive as Rukka's or Pit's, but it was certainly the most luxurious. It was fully enclosed by four walls, the floor was fully carpeted, and there was a comfortable little nook with a two person table and an excellent window view outside to the right of the king sized bed, as well as a wine rack. To the left and beyond the foot of the bed was the door leading out, and on the wall opposite the bed a 50-inch plasma screen hung over a short, black wood dresser. A before mentioned black futon was between the bed and the dresser. And to top it all of, this was the only room in the standard sleeping block (the place were the rooms of Rukka, Pit, Magnus, etc. are) with a private restroom.

Dark Pit turned his head to see, however, that the light in that private restroom was on and water seemed to be running inside. "What the…?" He slowly brought his hand down to rub his shoulder, only to find the skin bare. "Huh?" He said turning his head to see his upper body was unclothed. "What happened last night?" He wondered aloud as he threw of his blanket find that, thankfully, his toga was still covering his bottom half, with the upper part of it hanging over his belt.

"Oh, so you're awake?" A small voice asked as the bathroom door opened and Pandora stepped, covering herself with a towel. "Pittoo," She said, sitting down on the right half of the bed, looking at the floor before speaking to the dark angel. "There's something I need to tell you."

_About 18 seconds later…_

Rukka slowly opened his eyes, awoken by the sound of a shout. He pulled of his brightly colored checkered quilt and sat up, stretching his arms and back with his hand behind his head. "*yawn*, what was that sound?" He rubbed his head and stood up. Rukka took in the plainness of his sleeping quarters once again. Same granite walls and ceiling, same view of the same white clouds, same empty floor, same everything. "Something about a gnat or an ant or something," he wondered aloud as knelt down and pulled open a drawer in his night stand and pulled out a fresh chiton. He quickly changed into it and began to head for the door. Whatever that sound was, it would have to wait. Rukka hadn't eaten more than an energy bar and a bit of cloud in the past 24 or so hours, and he was hungry. He began his trek in search of food, grabbing a directional pamphlet from a holder in the hall right outside his room.

_One hour later…_

Magnus woke up and stared at the ceiling for a minute, as he usually did. Among all the rooms in the standard sleeping block, his was oddly the smallest. It was a standard block with no bells or whistles, just an average bed with white sheets and covers, a lightly polished hard wood desk with a lap drawer and a few pencils strewn across it to the right, and a three legged wooden stool. The room had dark blue curtain which made it quite a bit dimmer than outside, which allowed Magnus to sleep in. He rolled over, falling face-first off the right side of the bed, barely catching himself so his face didn't hit the floor and break his nose. As he pulled himself up, something caught his eye. In the left side of the bed, instead of nothing, as he thought there should be, was… Gaol!? _What the hell have I been drinking?!_ Magnus thought, quickly standing and just starring with a shocked face and open mouth at Gaol, who was sleeping peacefully, one arm straight and above her head while the other lay across her chest.

_Damn, she's beautiful, _Magnus's thoughts began, _Wait, no, gotta not think like that._ Checking to make sure he was clothed, and not knowing quite he should be thinking or feeling at the moment, he quietly slung his sword over his shoulder and tip-toed outside. He had no need to change, since he always slept in his leotard. _What happened last night?_ He wondered as he stepped down the hall, feeling slightly hungry. _But, I mean, she really-… no, I really need to stop thinking that way._

_Fifty minutes earlier…_

After about ten minutes, Rukka finally managed to use the pamphlet he had picked up to find his way to the living station. It was placed on a small island a bit to the west of the main island were Palutena's temple lay in the north and the stairwell leading down to the standard sleeping block lay to the south. In order to travel between the tow islands (and thus, for Rukka to get to the living station) one would have to cross the rope bridge across. Think of it as a shorter version of the rope bridge from _Temple__ of Doom_.

"Oh boy," Rukka said, looking across the rotting bridge which shook far to violently for the light breeze at present. "They really didn't think to make this handicap accessible did they?" Taking a large gulp, he went on "well, here I go," and he stepped o the first board, which was surprisingly stable. So were the next six boards. But when Rukka got to the seventh board the wind picked up to actual wind speed, causing the bridge to shake violently. "Oh my!" he said, clinging tightly to the ropes. Quickly he pulled himself up and threw himself forward, landing about three boards ahead. For a second he struggled to balance but right as he began to fall backwards he caught the rope and pulled himself forward. He took a confident step forward and then fell through the bridge.

"HOLY!" He shouted, barely stopping his fall by grabbing onto the tenth board. "Oh boy," he let out sigh, "I guess I go like this." So he climbed forward using the bridge planks as monkey bars. He surprisingly and thankfully didn't get any splinters from the old wood, which was probably weathered smooth, and even more surprisingly he had a pretty smooth climb, his only problems being that board 235 broke when he held it, but he weight wasn't on it yet so Rukka safely reached board 236, and getting back up. In order to get back on top of the bridge he had to shimmy to the side along the sideo of the island and then pull myself up using the protruding rocks. Considering how neither rock climbing nor monkey bars had ever been anything Rukka was ever really good at, it was amazing how well he did. Oh, and the total number of boards when Rukka had finished was 473, in case you cared.

"Well, that…was a heart beater," Rukka said leaning over his waist, gasping for breath to calm himself down. "I just realized," He said, straightening himself, his breathing back to normal, "that I was coming here _JUST_ to get breakfast." Annoyed by the fact he had nearly died for breakfast, approached the living station while scorning himself. The living station sat upon a small hill covered in very bright emerald grass, and it looked like a quaint one story house, but with horridly bland white walls and disgustingly ugly grey shingle roofing. There was a short cobble stone walk way, which looked much better than the most of the houses exterior, which led up some brick stairs to a red door which also was not nearly as unappealing as the walls and roof of the structure. Rukka twisted the doorknob, praying it wouldn't be locked after all the hell he had gone through, and stepped in. Inside was also very bland and quaint, but not so much so that you would want to avert your eyes at first glance. The building was sizable, had white walls as well most of what one might need for mid-day life. For about 15 feet there was a wood paneled hallway which had three different rooms connected to it. For about seven feet there was no wall to separate the hall from a concrete-floored room to the right that was lowered by about eight inches and contained a washer, a dryer, and an ironing board. The other room on the right was walled in and, upon further inspection, Rukka found it to be a well stocked restroom with shower, sink, cupboard, toilet, toilet paper, towel rack, etc. The left room had an entrance cut out in the wall to access it but no door to close it of. Inside was a well-sized kitchen and dining room with an old television on the counter. There was also a slick black 2-door fridge and freezer as well as a rectangular six person dining table (3 seats on both long sides) positioned so that the line formed by the open ends of the table went right through the television.

"Whoa," Rukka said, exploring the rooms of the living station. "Since when did they get all this modern day crap and leave me with rocks!?" Setting aside his anger since no one was around for it to be vented towards, he went into the kitchen to see what food and dishware they had. Opening the pantry he found flour, extract, a large bag of mixed candy with a large label reading 'DARK PIT'S' on it, sliced bread, sugar, nuts, a spice rack, the like. Checking inside the fridge he found eggs, milk, butter (both salted and unsalted), and various juices. "No tea?" Rukka asked himself with a scorn as he went to sort through the fruit basket, which had a whole pomegranate, some apples, a plum, nothing special. "Not much is there?" He again asked himself again, kneeling in front of a cupboard and opening it find some bowls, and then checked another one to find some frying pans. Getting bored and no really hungry, Rukka decided to just make his breakfast. He got out the milk, the flour, the eggs, some cassia cinnamon, a bottle of extract, and some (unsalted) butter, as well as a medium pan and a bowl. When had finished mixing the ingredients and started making pancakes, Pit walked into the room.

"Mmmm, what smells good?" He said with a cheery smile.

"Hm? Oh, just some simple pancakes, want some?" Rukka answered

"Don't mind if I do!" Pit said, wiggling around his fingers as he reached for the flap jack Rukka had just gotten of the pan, but was met with a touch from the hot pan. "Yow!" Pit said, pulling back his hand and gripping the burn tightly, "That hurt!"

"That was the point of the motion," Rukka replied, ladling more batter in the pan. "You will wait until I'm done with the cooking."

"But it smells so _GOOD!_" Pit whined.

"Then," Rukka snapped at pit, putting the hot spatula close to his face, "you're patience will be rewarded. Now sit," he indicated toward the table, and Pit obeyed. But suddenly, a thought struck Rukka. "Hey Pit," he asked

"Yeah?"

"You can't fly, right?" Rukka tried not to sound mean spirited, which was odd needless to say.

"…No." Pit said harshly with an annoyed look on his face. There was only one real thing that ticked Pit off, and that was his inability to fly.

"So how did you get to this place?"

"Oh, simple, I took the bridge."

"That rickety deathtrap?"

"No, that would be stupid. I took the much safer north bridge."

"North Bridge!" Rukka shouted, spinning around instantly. "I had to climb under that wooden abomination to get here and there was a NORTH BRIDGE!?"

"You climbed under the bridge to get here?"

"Guh! Never mind, as long as I know that there is a north bridge, I should be able to find it." He turned his attention back to cooking. "Everything in my existence is out there with purpose of torturing me!" There was a lack of sound for about a minute, before Pit broke it.

"Hey Rukka?" He asked in a slightly hopeful voice.

"Yes Pit?" Rukka asked, taking the twelfth pancake from the pan. For some reason, Rukka was always more lenient when cooking. Things that would send him into a blind fury while he was standing idle would be met with little more than a sarcastic remark when he was focusing on making food.

"Do we have enough pancakes for me to invite Viridi over?"

"She isn't coming over?" Rukka asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

"Well, not that I know of." Pit said, leaning his arm on the table and his cheek on his fist. "Should I call her?"

"Probably," Rukka replied, "I made enough batter for about eight people, and food," he said, carefully sliding a pancake onto a fresh plate, "is a terrible thing to waste."

"Alright, well, I'll call her," Pit said, taking out a smart phone.

"Hey Pit," Rukka said, taking notice of the device, "why do you all have all this modern stuff?"

"I don't know, but I bought my stuff online." Pit answered, tapping his toe, waiting for Viridi to pick up.

"But how did you get on-"

"Sh!" Pit cut Rukka off and began to talk to his girlfriend. "Hey Viridi! Good, how are you? Good, so, we're making pancakes and we have enough for you to come over, so if you want to- really? Okay, that would be great. Love you to, bye." Pit then turned to Rukka, "she like plates with flowers on them."

Rukka, who had just filled two plates with pancakes, twelve to each, turned off the burner and turned to give Pit a frustrated stare. "Do I look like her butler?" He asked in his more usual cold, biting and hateful voice, annoyed anyone would expect him to meet such a flamboyant requirement.

"I don't know," Pit replied with a shrug, "I've never seen her butler."

"That is not the point of the question," Rukka said, leaning back against the oven, crossing his arms and giving a cold stare.

"But aren't questions supposed to be answered?" Pit asked, dumbfounded.

"That question was rhetorical, it was meant to exercise a point, not to be answered." Rukka said before kneeling to pull out some plates.

"That's really stupid," Pit said, leaning down in his chair with his arms crossed.

"Well you're more so." Rukka said, using a fork and a spatula to divide the pancakes evenly between eight plates that four were on each.

"Aren't you going to add syrup?"

"No. Now go get out some napkins." Rukka answered sharply.

"Sheesh, you mood swings more than the old rope bridge," when Pit mentioned the rope bridge, a surge of anger went through Rukka, since he, you know, he nearly died crossing it for breakfast and a perfectly safe bridge couldn't have been more than a few hundred feet away.

"We'll," he answered after inhaling through his teeth, "I tend not to freak out while cooking." He continued while putting plates and silverware at six of table seats, "but now that I'm not I'd be cautious of what I say, if I were you at least," he finished by returning to his spot leaning against the stove. "Now you can ea-"

"Pit!?" A youthful voice came through the station, if you could call it that.

"Viridi!" Pit said, jumping out of his seat and running into a hug with his lover. "It's so nice for you to be over!"

"HEY!" Rukka said loudly, although it wasn't quite even a half yell. "LOVE BIRDS, GET IN HERE AND EAT YOUR BREAKFAST!"

"Okay!" The two cheerfully replied in unison as the marched into the kitchen, Pit pulling out Viridi's seat for her before sitting in his own. The two began eating, and quickly finished.

"Sheesh, you people must have been starving." Rukka said, slightly taken aback by the six second display of his cooking being mercilessly decimated. "I haven't seen someone eat like that since Ikki got drunk and took a dare to eat two liters worth of tempura." The young two, there faces covered in crumbs, gave Rukka a blank stare. "Oh right," He said, stroking his chin, "you don't know Ikki, but that's not important," he continued, putting his hand down, "you guys must have been _really_ hungry."

"No," they replied in unison, there mouths still full.

"Swallow before you speak," Rukka interrupted in an annoyed tone. It wasn't really because it was rude to talk with ones mouth full, but because Rukka was a very tidy person with a great detestation towards mess.

They to complied before going on with their answers. "They just taste really good!" Pit said, putting heavy emphasis on his words.

"But it's nothing special, I make it every doyobi." Rukka answered with a strange look at the two, and was met with another blank stare

"Saturday," Rukka explained, "I make these every Saturday."

"Oh…" they said once again in unison, "you eat like this every week?"

This remark was met with a bored, cold, nonchalant stare. "You guys must live a sad, sad existence." If these simple flap jacks counted a gourmet to them, Rukka wanted as little to do with their dietary habits as possible.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the duo asked, the smallest drop of anger in there voices. "Are you insulting our lifesty-" believe it or not, the sound of an opening door, not Rukka, cut them off.

"Good morning!" The voice of Palutena rang as she popped her head out from around the corner. "Oh and Rukka," she said, stepping in with a cheery smile and an extended palm, "you may want this." In her hand was Rukka's phone, which he quickly snatched from her. It was a simple I-Phone 4 in a blue otter box, nothing special and quite dated for the time.

"You wouldn't happen to have my clothes as well, would you?" He asked

"Check the dryer," She said, indicating to the concrete room.

"Alright," and Rukka went over to the lowered area.

"So," Palutena began, indicating the younger two, "how are you this morning?"

"Fine," They said at the same time with smiles on their faces.

"I'll be in the restroom," Rukka said as he walked by, carrying a lump of clothing.

"Okay," Palutena, Viridi, and Pit all said together. There was a brief pause as Palutena sat herself on the counter and took a plate of pancakes.

"So," she began, her eyes darting between the other two, "have either of you ever had a crush?" She put on a small, smug smile (unintentional alliteration!) as she asked.

"...Viridi," Pit said with a sheepish smile

"Pit," Viridi said, smiling back.

"You two are dating!?" Palutena half screamed in surprise.

"Uh, well, I guess," Pit answered. Both of them were scratching there necks, as neither had actually put, I don't, _THOUGHT_ into the idea. Because, you know, it's not like stable relationships need _thought_ or _effort_ or _nurturing_ or any thing like that. You know, priorities!

"We'll," Palutena responded "I'm shocked, but good for you all the same." She took a bite of pancake and twirled her fork. "Mm, these are really good," she said before swallowing, '*gulp* who made these?"

"Oh, Rukka made them. " Pit answered. There was a brief pause before he spoke up again. "You know, I just realized Rukka wasn't the least bit curious when I asked you over," he said, indicating towards Viridi., "and he seemed to already know about us."

"Oh," she said, giving a chuckle with the nervousness in it rather well hidden "I wonder how?"

Just before a socially awkward moment could occur, a recipe for an even more socially awkward moment walked through the door in the form of Dark Pit and Pandora, both dressed in their standard attire, though their hair was a bit iffy.

"Well hello there," Palutena said cheerily to the two, "sleep well last night?"

"That's something of a long story," Dark Pit answered, scratching his neck, "you see, there was this kinda sorta-"

"Morning love birds," Rukka said, stepping out of the restroom. His chiton was now bundled in his shoulder and he was instead wearing dark grey track pants with a black stripe down the outward side of each leg and a plain red v-neck t-shirt (if anyone knows what the T in t-shirt means, let me know).

"Hey!" Dark Pit recoiled heavily and shouted.

"How did-?" Pandora said dumbstruck, much less taken aback.

"I have methods." Rukka said smugly, his outward confidence hiding his internal worry for almost letting loose his activities on the previous night (that was in the last chapter, so If you don't know, read it). _DAMN! I need manage my tongue better! I almost gave away my secret activities! Ah, no matter, they're not smart enough to find out._ "Now go grab a seat," he said bitterly, indicating to the kitchen before walking in himself. Dark Pit and Pandora each took a seat. "Eat," he said grabbing a plate for himself from the counter, leaving one extra.

"Outa my seat," he demanded of Palutena in a voice so harsh and with such sharpness she immediately took her half-full plate and leapt down. Rukka, with his plate in one hand used his free hand to push himself above the counter. He spun in mid-air and landed between the television on the wall, leaning the corner and facing the table. He crossed his legs and pulled a fork out from the drawer below him, taking a bite and swallowing. "Ah, feels good to be back in my own clothes."

For a while it was calm, Pit and Viridi made small talk while Palutena and Rukka ate, but Dark Pit and Pandora just stared the food.

"You really should try it," Viridi told the latter two, surprising them a bit.

"Oh, uh, we're not hungry," Dark Pit answered, poking his food with a fork

"But I made food for eight," Rukka piped up, pointing his fork at them, "and you two are counted."

"How did you know I'd stay here tonight?" Pandora asked in surprise

"Methods, my neutral contact, methods,"

"What are these, methods?" Dark Pit slammed his fork down and he asked angrily.

"Like I'll tell you," Rukka answered in a slightly annoyed voice, though he was actually quite please with himself and uncannily not bothered.

For a while, quiet overtook the room, giving Palutena time to finish her plate. "So Rukka," she asked, putting her plate in the sink, "where'd you learn to cook like that?"

"I work a restaurant," he answered, though his place of business had little to do with it, as you could guess considering he works a tempura restaurant and these were pancakes. No, it was just a skill he picked up from his grandmother, though he had not nearly enough patience to explain everything they would ask given the context in which he talked about his grandmother (maybe another chapter, if you ask nicely).

Rukka finished his plate and put his dish in the sink before he began cleaning up. "If you want to invite another guest HINT HINT," he looked at Palutena, "We have some extra plates."

"What was the hint for?" She asked with a displeased look.

"This," he said, walking by and snatching a fold over paper from her pocket, opening it with his thumb to reveal the image of Pyrrhon.

"WHY YOU INSOLENT!" She shouted, leaping to grab the paper, but she was easily sidestepped. Lying prone, she turned her head and angrily shouted at Rukka through tightly gritted teeth. "How _DARE_ you!"

"I'll dare whatever I please," he answered bitingly, leaning against the fridge. "Which, reminds me, where's Magnus?" His voice seemed much calmer now that he had finally gotten so far under someone's skin. "I was expecting him to be over for breakfast"

It took a brief bit for everyone to recover from the spectacle, but after a bit they managed to recuperate. "Oh, he usually sleeps in," Pit answered.

"Guh, he better wake up soon and come eat," Rukka spoke with the slightest exasperation. "I hate to waste food." Palutena stood up and brushed herself off, giving Rukka a hateful stare, to which he just shrugged and smiled smugly. He threw up his hand with the photograph which Palutena promptly snatched and tucked into her pocket.

"Um," Pandora spoke up after a second, which startled every body, "so, uh, what are your, um, political stances?" Her voice grew shakier and more unsure with every pause, making it obvious she intended to ask something else but decided otherwise.

"Everything I own," Rukka piped up, "says Viridi is Green, Pit doesn't know squat about political parties, and Palutena is Libertarian"

"On the dot," the three answered after a moment of shock, each in a different tone. Pit (of course) was cheery while Viridi seemed unimpressed and Palutena showed surprise.

"Good, now ask the real question," He said to Pandora, causing her to recoil.

"Um uh whatever do you mean?' She said in a tone to match her fidgeting figure (more unintentional alliteration! I am a good writer!), turning the gears in Dark Pit's head. _Guh, she is perfect. No, that kind of thinking got me into this mess. But she's just so... flawless._

"I mean," Rukka went on, "that you obviously meant to ask something else, and based on how your internal organs have seemed to turn into cranberry sauce," He put his finger to his chin and looked up, "which is oddly named so considering it's more of a- oh never mind!" He threw down his hand, "you were going to ask something important now what is it?" He said, leaning back against the counter. For a minute the room remained quiet, all eyes, even Dark Pit's on the vixen. "Tell them," He said, putting his hand on hers, "it'll be okay, I'm here." This caused her to cry, drawing comforting remarks from most of the people there, except, you guessed it, Rukka, whom merely walked forward with annoyance "My question remains unanswered," he remarked coldly and without sympathy. "So enough petty emotion and out with it," his complete lack of caring shocking most of the crowd, leaving the room in silence for a moment.

_How DARE he!_ Dark Pit's mind raced as he gritted his teeth in anger and clinched his fist tightly enough to leave marks on his palm. His patience for the inconsiderate human had drained at that point, and his heart rate rose rapidly to a drum-like state. _I can deal, no matter how grudgingly, with his jerk attitude, I can deal with him insulting and scorning me or almost anyone else. But I will absolutely NOT tolerate that!_

"STOP BEING SUCH AN ASS !" he shouted at Rukka, jumping out of his seat while throwing his right fist straight at his face, every second seething with fury. _The fact that he has the AUDACITY to speak to her like that, I will not accept. Especially not in her condition!_ Rukka caught the punch with his left hand, holding the jab a mere 2 or three inches from his face. Despite his close encounter, Rukka didn't flinch. The whole display lasted only a second, but left the audience in a prolonged state of awe.

Rukka held onto the fist, looking down at Dark Pit. His face was full of a blind rage so strong not even the short-fused Rukka had never felt anything of its caliber. The dark angel was stretched far forward and had put every ounce of strength in body and all of his weight into that one punch. The fact that Rukka caught it and almost immediately cancelled its momentum was a true testament of strength, as well as the only reason Dark Pit hadn't landed on the floor.

"How DARE you," he said, practically steaming. His face was bright red and the heat emanating from it was strong enough to be felt in Rukka's stomach. The usually calm angel dripped sweat, and his was hair beginning to droop from water-logging. Already his clothes showed sign of heavy perspiration, and the very touch of his fist in Rukka's palm was practically slimy. _How dare he speak to her so rudely while she cries, while she is at her weakest! I have half a mind to draw my blade and dispose of this bully!_ His squinted eyes burned brightly with sheer hatred.

"Hm, so I see," Rukka said, lowering Dark Pit's fist from his face after a moments staring between the two. He quietly stepped back to his leaning position (in case you couldn't tell, Rukka liked leaning on things), leaving Dark Pit to straighten himself. The black angel was huffing in anger, starring down the one who would show such insolence to his beloved. Rukka's face remained emotionless through the spectacle, and Viridi, Pit, Pandora and Palutena (yet more unintentional alliteration) were all still staring.

"Pittoo," Pandora spoke up softly, getting up and walking to his side. Her face was still a little wet from crying, and all in all her appearance fell far short of its usual stunning nature. Its sassy confidence had been drained and replaced by worry and grief. "You don't have to fret so much over me. It's not worth being so upset."

"No no," Rukka interjected, putting on a slight smile with his arms crossed, suddenly sounding much more sophisticated. "It's quite alright. It is, after all, a very important matter. That is, the fact that she is expecting."

_Well, that took most of my sick week. I intended for this to go on past this, but after seeing I was approaching 5000 words (I've probably exceeded that well by now) without an introductory statement, I decided this was a good stopping point. Especially considering I actually CUT material for the final version. Yeh, I know, its NSMB2 writing edition. But eh, tomorrow (at the time of me writing this) is Friday, so I can continue it then._

_Please review in the reviews or through private message with any constructive criticism, which I greatly appreciated. It also welcomed for you to share your opinions, so don't be shy! It's the internet after all, and no one knows who you really are (smiley emo-con)._


	7. Chapter 7: Late late late LATE!

_Take I don't care, day who gives a shit anymore, this a direct sequel, make sure you remember the last chapter, and if you don't, go read it real quick. Now forward!_

The entire room was still, in utter shock about what they had just heard. If someone had still been eating, one could probably hear them chewing their food. The refrigerator itself seemed to have fallen silent under what it had just been informed of. With the exception of Rukka, everyone in the room was in complete shock.

"What's expecting?" Pit piped up quickly and without clue. If childish naivety ever took form, Pit would have been its idol.

"Pregnant," Rukka answered with a cold disinterest and a shrug to match it.

"Oh," Pit replied. His face was rather flat as well; only his eyes were wide, innocent and curious, compared to the narrow and hateful eyes that rarely seemed to leave Rukka's face. His pupils were glossy and youthful, perfectly personifying his naivety. "What's pregnant?" This drew an exasperated sigh from the room at his unrealistic childishness which only Nintendo could produce. "What?" he asked at this, darting his eyes around the room.

"Pregnant," Rukka began, sounding a bit more like Ben Stein began, "is when a woman is gravid with-"he stopped himself when he saw no one in the room had the slightest clue as to what he was talking about, as even Palutena, who usually did okay in terms of intelligence, had her face covered in a veil of being dumbfounded, as did everyone else aside from Rukka.

"Oh, right, idiot speech," Rukka mumbled in annoyance. _Guh, I should have guessed they would be too stupid to understand what I'm saying. But then, maybe I'm being to smart. Again, like everyone I know accuses me of, at least once a day._ "Pregnant is were babies come from," Rukka said, enunciating heavily as his lungs filled with a fake magic an uncle would use to explain things to his young nephew. He motioned with his hand at each syllable and spoke much softer and slower than he usually would.

"Oh," Pit said after a brief pause and exchanging an awkward stare with the smarter creature. He put his hand to the table and supported his chin on his fist, obviously taking time to think over the brief explanation.

"Well," Rukka suddenly spoke up to take advantage of he silence, far more chipper and suddenly standing very tall and trim, "how rude of me to forget the proper congratulations!" He walked over to Dark Pit and Pandora, neither of whom had fully recovered from the shock. Not that they didn't know, but they wondered how Rukka did. "I properly congratulate the two of you on your soon to be child," he said, an English sense of sophistication floating about his voice, "Despite the," he turned his head and put on a sly and smug grin, "questionable, moral circumstances of it." The two love birds quickly shook their heads and brought their attention back to the events at hand

"W-what's that supposed to mean?" Pandora stuttered a bit as she started, obviously a bit nervous and still a bit surprised, knowing she should somehow feel offended by the ending portion of Rukka's comment but not quite knowing how. She felt insecurity, and given how sincerity and grace were not exactly bountiful were she stood and that this expecting thing was still fairly new even to her, it was understandable. "A-and more importantly, how did you know? I mean- about the-"

"Say no more," Rukka raised his hand calmly, still sounding very fancy, "and calm yourself, will you? It is a popular belief throughout Asia that the mentality of the mother during pregnancy affects the mentality of the offspring very much so, and I see no reasoning for otherwise. But as for how I know, it just runs in the family. As far as records go, my family's eldest has always been able somehow tell when another member of the family is conceived. Quite odd isn't it?" he cheerfully yet sedately chortled. "Though I guess it has exceeded its boundaries, has it not?" He chuckled, his questions obviously musings over curiosities.

"Hey Rukka?" Pit spoke up, measuring his hands like judicial scales, "I have some questions."

"And I should find this an epiphany why?" Rukka asked. His tone, surprisingly, remained calm and the only malevolence in his voice was his elongation of the 'why.'

"What's an-"Pit began

"An epiphany is a sudden revelation, or something that is revealed to you. Simple enough?" Rukka asked, again surprisingly without bitterness.

"Yes," Pit answered, spending plenty of time on the 'y,' as if he wasn't quite sure if 'yes' was the correct term. Not that such stupidity would have been inconceivable for Pit.

"Alright, ask away," Rukka shrugged, half sighing. _Never thought I'd say that._

"Well, so," he went on, still adjusting and now rotating his hands, as if it would help him understand better. "Since Pandora is pregnant, and that's were babies come from, is she going to lay an egg?" He asked with genuine curiosity and innocent, but his question drew a chuckle from a majority of the room, even Dark Pit, though a quick glare from Pandora silenced him without a second thought being needed.

"To my knowledge, no," Rukka answered tersely.

_Good to see he's back, I guess…_ Palutena thought, but her thoughts were quickly cut off.

"I can infer that you would know better than I would though," Rukka said as he turned his neck to look at the goddess. "Given the nature of this me being in an alternate dimension thing, I could accept almost any answer." He kept his glare forward for a second, which Palutena returned, unsurprisingly, without a clue. "Your answer?" Rukka spoke up, startling the green haired one and causing her to shake her head.

"Answer to what?" she asked

_You people truly are idiots,_ Rukka thought before speaking. "The answer to the question, 'will Pandora lay an egg?' since you would know better than I would. At least, I can infer that."

"Oh, uh, no, Pandora won't lay an egg," Palutena said, not feeling safe to remove her gaze from Rukka. Though he had only been there a short time, his clear-cut personality and angry disposition quickly printed itself in all their heads.

"Well, angels are mammals," Rukka quietly mused out loud as he walked back to the counter and once again threw himself upon it, closing his eyes to think sedately. "Figures given-"

"Rukka," Pit spoke up, not meaning to interrupt the human but doing so anyway, snapping him back to his normal annoyed self.

"Yes bread boy?" Rukka answered in minor frustration, opening one of his eyes to stare at the angel. _Hm, he really is white like a loaf of bread,_Rukka muttered in his head, making note of Pit's almost paper white skin. Rukka himself was a Caucasian, but at least he was decently tanned, which was surprising considering Pit most likely spent more time outside than he did.

"What's a mammal?" Pit asked, allowing the racial insult to pass over his head. After his question, Rukka just looked at him for a second, amazed at his lack of intelligence. However, his face remained cold. Picking his demeanor had always been a talent of Rukka's and it had made him an excellent liar, although there was one person he could never use it around.

"You have a brain the size of a proton," he stated coldly as his eyes squinted.

"I don't get it," Pit replied clueless, shaking his head lightly but not moving his eyes

"I know," Rukka replied as he moved his attention off the angel and leaned against the wall, his eyes once again closed. His thin patience had already been worn out by the angel, and had no desire to be further bombarded by his questions. And for a while that worked, as Pit merely looked at the ceiling and thought for moment.

"I still don't know what a mammal is," Pit said in his usual in the dark manner.

"Guh," Rukka let out a quiet sigh and dropped his head, "A mammal is an animal that is usually born live, or not in an egg." He starred with minor hatred at the angel, but that didn't seem to bother him.

"Okay. So, why do these mammals not lay eggs?" Pit asked.

_His curiosity is as boundless as his stupidity,_ Rukka though, half in admiration and half in frustration. "Mammals don't lay eggs because that is how they adapted to their environment," he replied through lightly gritted teeth and a scorn.

"What's an-"Pit spoke up, but was cut off by Rukka

"Something's environment is where it is," he told the idiot angel, "so when animals adapt to their environment, they change to be better fit for where they live. Understood?"

"Kinda," Pit replied.

"Well you aren't getting a further explanation." Rukka told him coldly. He was tired of answering his bombardment of questions, especially given how he didn't actually appear that stupid at first, and wanted to discuss with someone more competent-minded how he could end this conflict quickly and return home. _Home,_ he quickly opened his eyes and took a deep breath as the thought him like a bullet, _I hope I can get back…_

"Congratulations on being mother and father," Rukka quickly an icily said before beginning to walk out, stepping unusually heavily for his standards.

"What are a father and mother?" Pit stood called out as Rukka headed towards the door.

"You figure it out," He called back, surprising the room with a voice filled not with anger, sadism, smugness, or annoyance, but rather angst, and with that, he shut the door, generating a loud slamming sound. The room stood still, starring without reason to the side of the doorway in the direction of the door which Rukka had stormed out of.

"What was his issue?" Pandora asked. Her voice was timid, and it just went to show that with time comes change. In fact, the past few minutes seemed to exemplify that very well. Pandora was now a mother. Dark pit the father. Rukka was no longer cold, well okay still cold but also homesick. The world had quickly changed.

"I don't know," Palutena answered, still starring. Pandora had been the only one to break the glare, and grabbed Dark Pit's hand lightly, moving his attention towards her. The two exchanged an understanding look, a look which would contain to many complex emotions for them to written down.

"Seriously," Pit said, looking up at Palutena, "what are a mother and father?"

_Have I really neglected his education that long?_ Palutena thought when Pit brought his question into her attention. _Have I really pushed that aside to the point of, this? Wow, that almost makes me feel a little guilty now that-_

"Lady Palutena?" Pit chirped up with a bit of concern, "are you, okay?"

"Huh?" she said, being snapped out of her thoughts and being in a minor shock. "Of course not, why wouldn't I be?" she quickly added, not wanting her thoughts to escape her mind. She put on her normal disposition, closed eyes, small smile, and straight posture giving of the accurate depiction of someone kind but rather ignorant and a bit self-centered.

"Because you seem off," Viridi spoke up, drawing the attention of Pit and Palutena. She was starring down at her plate with her arms crossed, but quickly untangled them to push herself out of her seat and into a standing positions. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go think," she mildly spoke before trotting out. Her steps were at a steady rhythm and were also very quiet, very subtle.

"...Well have a good time with that," Pit cheerily called out and waved just after Viridi shut the door. He held a happy and oblivious grin, not noticing the other three people in the room starring at him. He stood for a bit, arms crossed nonchalantly, not happy for any particular reason. He waited a bit before he turned his head to Palutena, still smiling. "She's cute isn't she?" Pit asked his maternal figure goddess.

"Huh, oh, uh, didn't you have a question Pit?" Palutena quickly and desperately changed the subject, wanting to keep innocence in the young angels head, as well as something of her dignity. Extreme, most likely, but in her many years Palutena had learned not to take chances, especially not in more, social, affairs.

"Actually I did have a question! Thanks for reminding me!" He replied in a slightly loud and over-enunciated tone, forgetting his original subject. He quickly returned to his normal voice before going on. "So, what are a mother and father? I think I might understand it, but I'm not sure," he replied, struggling to remember his hypothesis about the two words. _Not that you being sure reliably says it's true,_ Palutena thought, letting out a small unnoticed chortle.

"Well, Pit, a mother and father are, uh.." Palutena brought her hand to her forehead, contemplating how to go about her explanation. "To put it, basically," she went on, having to stop and think so she didn't say 'to put this cleanly,' "a mother and father are two people who love each other very much and have a baby," she said, carefully picking her phrases, which yielded a speech pattern similar to Jame T. Kurk, specifically the rapid phrases with long breaks in between. She stood for a bit, starring at Pit, barely hiding her nervousness (as it was a sensitive matter), and he returned the gaze, leaving both silent for a time.

"Oh," Pit finally spoke up, the only moving part of his face being his lips, "that's not what I though at all,"

"Then what did you think?" Palutena asked, slightly fearing what Pit would say. "On second thought, never mind," she said with a raised hand, stopping Pit just as he took a breathe to begin speaking, his mouth remaining open. "You can close your mouth now," she replied with crossed arms and a titled head.

"Yes ma'am," Pit replied, standing tall and shutting his gaping air hole. "So, do I have a mother and father?" He asked, relaxing his spine and crossing his arms, using one to support the other which in turn supported his downward facing head at the chin. As he finished his question he lowered his upright arm and lifted his head, looking at Palutena with a constant stare of curious interrogation.

"Well yes, all living things have a father and mother," she said, lifting a flat hand. "But then," she said, looking to the floor and lifting a finger to her chin, "some species can reproduce with only one specimen, which is called asexual reproduction."

"What?" Pit asked confusedly in an oddly sharp voice.

"Nothing," Palutena plainly replied, not wanting to get into an discussions of that sort with Pit, not in the next several years at least. But at the same time, she had to wonder, given his naivety...

"Okay." Pit replied with a shrug, but quickly went back to his unbroken stare. "So who are my father and mother?" he said after a second

Palutena starred for a short bit and gulped subtly. _I really was hoping I wouldn't have to speak to him about this..._ she thought with a slight cringe. "Pit,"

"Yes Lady Palutena?" he answered in his normal youthful voice.

"I need you to come with me outside for a moment, okay?" she asked, dipping her head forward.

"Sure," Pit responded enthusiastically with a medium grin. With that he strode over to the door and circled it, stopping in the door frame. "I'll be waiting," he said, turning his head to Palutena. "Here, er... not here," he said, pointing at his feet, "but, you know, outside." He held his lower lip slightly jutted for a short while, and with that he quickly scurried out and closed the door.

_Huh... this is going to take some thinking to tell him all this..._ Palutena's thoughts began as she walked towards the door, _maybe I shouldn't tell him everything from the start. Yeah, that's probably the best way to do things, incrementally,_she began to wrap up her thoughts before rounding the door she had just opened. Just of by the edge of the floating island stood Pit, who appeared to be whistling at the sky. _I can do that,_ the green haired goddess ending as she closed the door quietly behind her.

* * *

"Guh, this is bad," Rukka mumbled for what seemed like the the hundredth time, walking hastily towards the room which had become his. "this is bad bad bad!" he repeated throwing his hands forward a bit. It was surprising he hadn't already finished his thinking, and that he was still containing is mind until he reached a more comfortable location. He opened his door, still repeating his phrase, and sat upon his unmade bead. The cream sheets were cool and the mattress was comfortably firm, but comfort was a priority that had quickly left his mind. "Guh, this is the worst possible thing I've been in," he muttered to himself as he clenched his forward-leaning head. "I'm, as far as I know," he went on, falling down perpendicular to the longs side of the bed, "stuck here forever, never to go home..." He shut his eyes and did something he did not commonly do, shed a tear. "I-" he began, "I may go to college. I may never smack Ikki for being annoying again. I may never have a chance to be successful. I may never-" at this point all his character was lost as he threw is face into his pillow and sobbed like a soap opera character. "I may never see Suzuki again." He sniffed and then quickly brought his head up. "GRAH! I need to get a hold of myself!" he semi-shouted, palming himself in the side of his head. He brought a scornful and impatient look to the floor, angry at himself for acting in a manner he considered pathetic. "But, guh, why bother whining?" he muttered as he lowered his hands and knees onto the floor. "Not like I had a chance in the first place, or that I would have tried."

He pulled out his Hearts Key which he had stored under the bed, looking at it as he took a mournful breath. The aura around it was blue to show his sadness and despair. "DAMN IT!" he shouted, throwing the arm guard to the ground, though it took no damage, "I AM PATHETIC!" He began sobbing again, falling into his pillow once more, though his knees stayed on the floor. "Why God? why?" he pouted into the cloth headrest, "or do I want to know," he sighed out, flipping on to his back. His continued to pout and his eyes were closed, but no tears came out, his tear ducts had mostly dried in their lack of use. "I should have just told Suzuki I like her," Rukka said. He let a deep, annoyed sigh before slowly getting on the floor to retrieve his weapon. "Who am I kidding?" he mumbled as he knelled down. "Her parents would never forgive her if she married me."

Rukka had only met Suzuki's parents, Karei-san and Karei-chan (the Japanese equivalents of Mr. and Mrs.), once. She had invited him and Ikki over to for dinner at her home, an offer which he struggled to hide his enthusiasm at. Meet the parents of his secret crush without looking suspicious or desperate in some way? Having Ikki their to make it feel less, awkward? Of course he accepted! But Suzuki's parents did not take kindly to Rukka. They were very upstanding and very strongly oriental as well, so his almost entirely Irish blood and especially his quick, violent temper did not earn even the least bit of their favor. It took him less than 30 minutes to nearly break their television set and likely would have succeeded if Ikki hadn't calmed him down. When the meeting of people got to eating dinner, no comment, question or complimentary remark of Rukka's got a response, and he often caught glimpses of the husband and wife starring at him disapprovingly. He never got another invitation to Suzuki's residence again, and took the obvious hint that her parents most likely despised him, and secretly feared that his friendship with Suzuki was harming her family relations. _And why shouldn't they despise the likes of me_, he would wonder some nights, almost crying. _I'm a terrible influence, and Suzuki deserves better, like someone who isn't at risk of trying to kill the bridesmaid._

"Better me be alone than her unhappy," Rukka let out angrily as he slipped on the Hearts Key, which still glowed blue. Rukka wasn't sure why only he could see the colors (as a he had seen no one else notice them in the least) or why he knew what they represented, but that was no concern of his. He assumed it was just something that comes with wearing the weapon, and there were more important things to think over. "I really wish I _did_ have chance," he muttered as he walked over to his door. He sulked down the hall, wiping his eyes dry, and came across the door leading into the room of Dark Pit. "Why is that open?" he inquired to himself, his dilemma temporarily pushed from his mind. Letting his natural curiosity take over, and not exactly being eager to go back to the living station, he entered the room.

It was nothing special, but it was a mess. A chair laid on it's side on the floor, the white sheets on the bed were jumbled and wrinkly, and worst of all was the clutter in the restroom. Just about any legal white object Rukka could think of was scattered across the floor, and there were even a few he couldn't name, which was odd given his expansive knowledge. He crept around the bed over to what appeared to be wine rack, but is was hard to tell. Many glass bottles lied broken on the floor in large purple stains, but given the two glasses atop the wooden structure and an adjacent bottle of clear liquid, the alcohol theory seemed most probable. Just to be safe, he grabbed the open bottle and gave it a short smell before letting out a shrug and screwing on the cap as he walked out of the room. A quick glance at his phone showed the time to be around noon. "I should probably get started on lunch," Rukka muttered as he started for the stairwell out. "At least I know that there's a non-death trap bridge I can take."

* * *

Viridi sat on a small stone bench outside the living station in all its disgusting blandness. Despite this, the grass was a shining emerald green she could appreciate. She looked around at the clouded sky, which wasn't letting much light through to the ground. The atmosphere was very depressing looking, but the weather was actually rather pleasant, with a mild temperature and cool, gentle breezes every so often. But the atmosphere did not speak to her, as she was busy with thoughts swirling in her head.

_Sheesh, it's hard to try and be the good guy,_ she thought, back straight and eyes closed, head pointed to the ground. _Am I really all that well justified in my hatred of humans? I know Pit fights for them, and I'd do a lot for Pit, but... just look at some of the things they do! They burn forests, slaughter each other by the thousands and have no respect what so ever! Like that human, R-something, I don't remember, sounds like a sneeze, I can think of one or two times were he has actually shown himself to be an okay person, but otherwise he seems to just have been a jerk... guh, I wish morality had a handbook. Ha! I'm sure someone would make something to that effect just to prove me wrong!_ Viridi mused her last sentence, opening her eyes and looking into the vast sky which ran above, on the same level as and below the floating islands on which she now stood. _But still... it's a hard question,_ she thought as she rested one elbow on her leg and put her forehead into the grip of the hand matching said elbow. _Maybe I should talk to some of the others to try and get some insight. Though it would be kinda hard to do it discretely, and I have an image to keep. But then again, how else am I going to reach a conclusion if I can't figure it out with what I have..._

Viridi let a a long sigh and leaning over to stare down at the grass before continuing to think. _I feel like I'm trying to decide if I like my father or not again. On one end, my father is my father, but on the other, he has done some pretty terrible things... only I have a different reason to think twice other than 'he's my father,' which makes the decision HARDER because all I have to go off is character and how my relations relate to the humans instead of a blood title. I should probably draw this out a little, maybe that will help in the mean time. To their discredit, they murder each other, destroy the environment, sacrifice all decency for power, lie their way to success, wage pointless wars so they can have minor benefit and often disrespect the pantheon. But to their credit, I have met a human in person and he has had his moments of being nice, and I guess it is pretty rash to assume ALL humans act like that, and my love fights for them..._

"Ah, my love..." Viridi sighed, straightening her back, fond thoughts of Pit circling around in her head for a while. Like the first time the met when the humans had the war over the wish seed, and all the times she had helped him fly through the sky to save something, or that time he destroyed Arlon's moon prison and stopped an entire invasion plan of her's by defeating Phosphera and totaling her reset bomb factory. She also remembered the time in the Aurum hive were Palutena almost caught onto her secret crush on Pit. She remembered back to the night of their first kiss, in the night by the full moon, in the cool dark breeze, oh the joy!. _Note to self_, _credit to humans for making Pit love me,_ she thought, before giving it a little thought and adding a silent threat, _unless of course the R-person tells any one, and if he does,_ she interrupted her mind, having not considered what she would do if Rukka did tell any one about the cupid's bow incident, _I don't know what I'll do, but he'll regret it!_ Viridi chuckled mentally and continued on her trip through memory lane, all the way up until what seemed like only a few minutes ago. _Sheesh, who new Pit was so naive,_ she wondered with a lopsided grimace on the right side of her face, turning her head in that direction also. _I can understand innocence but, he didn't even know what a mother and father were. It's hard to believe someone could be so sheltered... remind me to have a chat with Palutena about that. And if we, I mean, not that I would, but, you know I should really stop thinking about this,_ she thought while shaking her head with it resting in her palm. _Well, every relationship has issues I guess..._

Viridi took a break from her puzzling and looked up at the sky, and was surprised to find the time appeared to be well past noon. "Sheesh, have I have been thinking for that long?" she asked herself as she stood up, eyes still glued to the sky. "I should head in in that case," she stated as she darted for the door in a way very similar to a dart, quick and in a graceful and weightless manner.

* * *

"For the one thousandth time NO!" Rukka's screaming voice was a sudden shock as the first thing she heard entering into the living station. She briskly strolled down to the door frame and looked around the corner to make sure everything was safe. She darted her eyes around to see inside the room. _All furniture on the ground, no blood, he appears to be speaking to someone, yeah, this is safe._

"R-person," Viridi said with a slight greeting nod towards the human as she began to head towards the table, whom she noticed was wearing his purple arm guard again, "how did you get here?"

"Rukka," he corrected in exasperation, shaking his head.

"Ges-," Viridi began to say, but was cut of by the person whose name she mistook for a sneeze.

"Not a sneeze," he interupted with an angry sigh, pinching his forehead, "that's my name."

"Oh,' Viridi said, having not moved since Rukka began to speak to her, and with the utmost sincerity ushered "you have my deepest apologies,"

"Grrr-" Rukka almost screamed before swallowing his breath and dropping his head into open hands, "just shut up about it."

"Sure, but, still," she said a little cautiously with her left eye squinted at Rukka, "How did you get in here?"

"I just walked in to make lunch, but then I was distracted," he said ended bitterly, turning his glare to the odd-ish couple.

"But I didn't see you," Viridi plainly answered.

"Were you paying attention?" Rukka asked in slight annoyance.

"Well... no," Viridi replied with a very mild shrug, again very plainly.

"Well there's your reason," Rukka answered with a fake smile and forward lean before returning to his resting posture and harsh disposition.

"But I didn't hear you either," Viridi asked with a questioning look and forward head lean.

"I move very quietly," Rukka sharply answered, turning his face towards the young goddess, "will that be all?" he angrily uttered.

"Uh, sure," she cautiously responded, backing up slowly before taking a seat, in a chair, keeping her eyes carefully on the human until she had finished moving. "So, what's with the yelling?" she inquired tamely yet more confidently.

"We don't know who to get to deliver the baby," Dark Pit answered with a tinge of annoyance in his voice as he ruffled his hair with the same hand he was using as a headrest.

"And this constitutes the yelling because?" Viridi said, spreading her arms into a loose shrug as she drew out the 'because' in her sentence.

"Because they keep asking me to do it," Rukka spoke up with frustration, his face unwavering and his eyes locked hatefully at the couple, his patience obviously being spread very thinly, with the confusion of his name and this.

"Why?" Viridi asked with a squinted eye leaned forward, a bit incredulous in tone and appearance.

"He has a medical degree," Pandora spoke up, "so I don't See why HE CAN'T HELP US!" she raised her normally calm voice angrily, sending Viridi aback a bit.

"You have a medical degree?" Viridi asked Rukka, again a bit incredulous.

"Junior medical degree, yes, it was part of an early college program I took," he calmly told Viridi before turning his attention and angrily speaking to Dark Pit and Pandora, "BUT I'M STILL NOT HELPING YOU!"

"But why not?" Dark Pit whined with a pleading stare, his elbows resting on the table and his arms pointing outwards, his hands pinching as if to indicate greed.

"You went to early college?" Viridi asked, still unmoved from her incredulous pose.

"Guh!" he sighed angrily, throwing up his arms. "Your question first," he said hopelessly, pointing at Viridi, though his eyes were closed and he face was towards the ceiling as he was leaning back against the from his seat on the counter. "Yes, I went to early college. Yes, I got a junior medical degree, and yes, I'm smart, but I can NOT!" he half-shouted, throwing himself forward, "DELIVER A BABY!" he said with heavy enunciation and annoyance.

"But you have the degree!" Dark Pit countered in full minor annoyance.

"I missed that class!" Rukka shouted back, causing Viridi to suffer a temporary odd feeling in her ear, "purposefully!"

"WHY!" Dark Pit yelled at him.

"I am very modest," Rukka angrily and sternly though not very loudly replied.

"And?" Dark Pit asked angrily, causing Rukka to give him an annoyed stare with his head inclined.

"You don't actually know much about birthing do you?" Rukka coldly, not breaking his line of vision.

"Of course I do!" Dark Pit yelled back, "and I don't see how-"

"I think I can explain it to you," Pandora interrupted Dark Pit, holding with one arm, causing him to blush a bit. She then leaned over and whispered something into his ear to which he intently listened, his eyes slowly widening a bit as he did such. "Ooohh..." he went as Pandora sat back down. "That's a good point," he said slowly. This left the room in an awkward silence, although both Viridi and Rukka enjoyed the bit of quiet. Viridi stood up and looked around while Rukka just leaned back with his eyes closed, sitting with his legs crossed on the counter. But soon however, a familiar voice and face reared the corner if the door frame.

"Hi!" The chipper voice of Pit came through.

_Oh great,_ Rukka though rhetorically, _him_.

_Oh great!_, Viridi thought in genuine happiness, _Pit is here!_

"Pit!" she exclaimed in a wide grin, pulling him into a hug. "Oh, uh, hey Viridi!" he replied in nervous joy returning the hug, his face bright crimson.

"Alright you two, split it up," the sagely voice of Palutena rang. "So Pit, how did you feel about our little chat?" she asked a little nervously as she pulled out a chair for each of the 12-year old looking inhabitants of the room.

"I thought it taught me a lot a stuff," he replied rather absently with a matching shrug.

"Like what?" Viridi asked with a small smile, holding her chin up on her fist a tilting her head a small bit.

"Oh, you know, like what a mother and father are and stuff," he replied twiddling his left hand as he spoke.

"Hmm, interesting," Viridi replied quickly, pretending to be engrossed in Pit's speaking.

"So, how was your thinking?" Pit asked in a laid back manner with a slim grin at his girlfriend.

"Oh, it was good, nothing fancy," she replied with shrug of the shoulders.

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it," Pit told her cheerily.

"Thanks," she told him with a large smile in such a manner Pit couldn't help but blush a little.

The two youngest-looking continued their small banter while Rukka sat quietly, leaning against the wall and starring at his hands, which were just shy of his knees. Palutena had been reading a magazine and leaning against the back wall since she had seated Pit and Viridi while Dark Pit and Pandora, who sat opposite each other, hands held and discussed in hushed whispers.

"Dark Pit," Pandora finally spoke in a tone audible for the rest of the room, shaking her head solemnly. "I just don't know how we can get this baby delivered. We may just have to do it all ourselves."

"D-don't be silly now!" Dark Pit replied, no also audible to the room, his voice being rather nervous. "We'll find someone! Don't you worry!"

"But who?" Pandora questioned, extending a flat hand, "the only person here with medical experience won't do it!"

"Why not just go to a hospital?" Rukka asked as if they were idiots, which to be fair isn't a terribly inaccurate assumption.

"Are kidding?" Dark Pit rhetorically asked with decent intensity, "do you expect me to put my love in a dirty public stone room to have our baby in, that also probably has been a place of the sick? Because I'll be damned if I put them somewhere so filthy!" he finished, then yelling at him.

"Hm," Rukka replied, not phased by Dark Pit's angered tone, resting his lip on one of his right knuckles. "That's a very good- wait a minute!" he went, suddenly raising his back straight and bringing down his hand. "You people have plasma screens and _very_ nice kitchens," he went, nodding at 'very', "but don't have a simple sanitary hospital?!"

"Well, you see, we," Palutena spoke up, motioning her her hand a round to indicate everyone in the room except Rukka, "don't get sick, so there WAS no need for a hospital, until now," she finished with a drop of her hands, which were positioned parallel to each other.

"Are you suggesting to me no children have been borne unto your kind in, all of existence?" He inquired, speaking slowly and rearing his head back for the last three words, ending by throwing his it forward.

"Well, um...," Palutena began, darting her head around, "yes," she finished, giving Rukka a blank, wide eyed stare.

"Uh-mm yeah, bullshit," Rukka said, again nodding his head. "This game universe is based of Greek Mythology," he went on, pointing downwards with both pointer fingers, "and in Greek Mythology, children were borne unto the gods every freaking 30 seconds." He then straightened his back and flipped his hands so they were position as if he was holding two champagne glasses. "Of course I exaggerate, and I know it's a Nintendo franchise," he continued, rotating his hands, "but come on! Fire Emblem is a Nintendo franchise and just look at the shit they imply every other game!" he finished with one arm extended a bit and the other close to his chest.

"Are you implying this is a fictional universe?" Dark Pit asked a bit bitterly.

"I am STATING that!" Rukka enunciated heavy as he spoke. "So tell me, how can no children besides this one have been conceived by your kind in all of your EXISTENCE!"

"Well, we, uh, that's probably the best question anyone's asked me in a while," Palutena responded, originally holding her chin in the top of her hand looking at Rukka to finish. She had to look a little downwards to do this, as she was taller, but the 6 foot 6 goddess wasn't _that_ much taller that the 6 foot 3 human.

"And if that's true, how does she know she's pregnant? I know that I figured it out, but that was based on the reactions of people I knew, well, knew!" he said, moving his hands in mild yet random patterns at each syllable. "You obviously wouldn't need a method to tell if it never happens!" he ended, throwing one arm back and leaning over a bit, looking a little bit more animalistic.

"That is also a good question," Palutena replied, showing a little shock at that. She turned her head to Pandora and Dark Pit before asking them "how DID you find out if we haven't made any methods of telling? I mean, I can't visually tell yet, so..."

"I used a human one," Pandora replied sheepishly, drawing the eyes of everyone in the room, as if they were all asking why she would have one. "I-its a long story."

"You've got to be kidding me," Rukka muttered with his shaking head in his open hand, "does it happen to be white and plastic?" he asked Pandora aloud, throwing out an open hand to his side and tilting his head in an expectant and cold manner.

"Uh, yes..." she blankly replied, wondering why Rukka asked that.

"I don't get it," Pit spoke up, turning to giving Rukka a clueless stare.

"Good," he replied in an unusually emotionless manner, holding his head again. "How the hell can you have modern-styled pregnancy testers if you hospitals are still made of-"

"Hello?" a gruff voice stated as the form of Magnus walked in, looking around at the cast of the room._  
_

"stone," Rukka silently murmured, again shaking his head in his unfolded hand. _God, why do you not want me to know why their technology is so inconsistent?_

"Uh, what did I miss?" Magnus asked slowly from the doorway, moving his eyes across the room. _Who the hell is that brown-haired boy? _Magnus thought, referencing Rukka, _and what the hell is that he's wearing?_ His mind went on in reference to Rukka's modern clothing. _And are those two, holding hands?!_ his thoughts screamed as he saw Pit and Viridi with held hands on the table._ And why is Pandora here?_ _I really must have drunken something strong last night, because this is ridiculous!_ He took a whiff of the kitchen air and then continued pondering, _and why does the smell here not make me want to vomit like it usually does?_

"Breakfast," Rukka said in answer to Magnus's question, jumping to the ground and grabbing one of the two free pancake plates from the counter (see last chapter) and walking over to Magnus with it on one hand. "Sit and eat," he said, extending the plate to Magnus.

"Uh, okay..." Magnus confusedly replied before complying. "Hm," he said in surprise when he took a bite and swallowed. "this doesn't taste disgusting!"

"I would hope not, I made them," Rukka answered coldly, now leaning against the refrigerator with his arms crossed.

"Hm, explains why they aren't terrible," Magnus said before taking another bite.

"Are you saying my cooking is bad?" Palutena somewhat angrily asked the sword-brandishing human.

"Is that what they usually eat?" Rukka questioned smugly.

"Yes," she coldly replied.

_Heh, seems I'm rubbing off on the place,_ Rukka thought, continuing his smugness. "Then I assume your cooking IS bad," he went, basking in his own self-satisfaction.

"Why you li-" Palutena began angrily with a bitter stare at the human whilst turning and stomping her foot.

"We still have a problem," Dark Pit spoke up, leaning over the table and moving his hand between him and Pandora.

"You?" Magnus asked with a glance at the two, having walked over to the sink and now drawing a cup of warm water from the tap before taking a long sip.

"There an expecting couple," Rukka flatly answered with a lift of his hand and minor shrug.

"Btttt-whah?" Magnus yelled in shock as his drink blew out from his mouth and onto Rukka's shirt. He stood in bewilderment, gasping like fish and pointing at one or the other, constantly alternating.

"The dramatic irony," Rukka muttered in frustration as he stared down at the water stain on his shirt, quietly pacing over to the leotard-wearer.

"Hey Magnus," he said with a plastic smile, arms crossed loosely and all in all looking very calm.

"Yeah?" Magnus replied, lowering his arms and now alternating glances between Rukka and the expecting couple.

"Yahtzee," Rukka spat in an annoyed tone, throwing back his fist.

*SMASH*

And with a single upward hook to the chin Magnus was sent into an unconscious spiral, landing supine of the floor.

* * *

_Well well well, readers, that was simply the single most excruciatingly long thing I have ever written. However, to all my loyal readers in the world, which is the United States, the Netherlands, the Philippines and the U.K in order from most reads to least, oddly enough, thank you for your patience. Also, to my followers out there (yes, all three you), a big thanks. Also, a special thanks to Pixel-jam, who has not only reviewed regularly but also help me finish the concept for this plot arch._

_Now, if your wondering why this is late,_

_1- I had to go through multiple different drafts and version to get the first 4000 or so words right_

_1- I had a nearly complete version that I had but got deleted, making me start from scratch. But to be honest, that version wasn't very good in retrospect so that was for the better._

_3- Holiday season. Even though the holidays and visiting family are one of the few thing that bring me joy and I'm really glad I got a Wii-U this Christmas (if you don't have one yet because your waiting for the killer app game, I can't blame you... yet), my GOD do they eat time!_

_So yeah, there's my excuses, and besides, this chapter is well over 7000 words, easily the longest one yet. But if your still reading and you still like my story, Kudos to you._

_And if YOU think it's sad that very things bring me happiness, you can solve that by reviewing, which depressingly enough brings me joy! All constructive criticism is welcome, the more input, the better! So merry, past, Christmas and a happy new year- which is now this year... review and God bless, bye!_


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